Jennifer Wang

Jennifer Wang

Assistant Professor
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, PhD
Stanford University, Postdoc

contact info:

mailing address:

  • Washington University
    CB 1137
    One Brookings Drive
    St. Louis, MO 63130-4899

The Wang lab is interested in understanding how subcellular compartments are organized to create functional molecular machines.

Our work is driven by fundamental cell biological questions: How are the micron-scale functions of organelles determined by the assembly of nanometer-scale proteins? How do complex structures grow and duplicate? How are non-membrane-bound organelles differentiated from the cytoplasm?

The Wang lab studies these questions in the context of the mammalian centrosome-cilium complex. This highly conserved structure is involved in cell division, signaling and motility. We use CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, high resolution microscopy, and biochemical techniques to investigate how this organelle is created, organized, and functions.

Top left: Expansion microscopy image of a G0-stage mammalian cell. Blue: DNA. Green: microtubules. Red: centrioles and cilium
Top right: Expansion microscopy image of a mitotic mammalian cell. Blue: DNA. Green: microtubules. Red: centrioles
Bottom left: Expansion microscopy image of migrating centrioles within the olfactory epithelium. Side view.
Bottom right: Expansion microscopy image of the olfactory epithelium apical surface. En face.

Selected Publications:

Tsekitsidou E., Wang J.T., Wong C.J., Ulengin-Talkish I., Stearns T., Gingras A.-C., Cyert M.S. (2022) Calcineurin associates with centrosomes and regulates cilia length maintenance. bioRxiv 2022.06.16.496489. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.06.16.496489

Ching K.*, Wang J.T.*, Stearns T. (2021) Long-range migration of centrioles to the apical surface of the olfactory epithelium. eLife 11:e74399. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.74399 *Equal contribution

Wigington C.P., Roy J., Damle N.P., Yadav V.K., Blikstad C., Resch E., Wong C.J., Mackay D.R., Wang J.T., Krystkowiak I., Bradburn, D.A., Tsekitsidou, E., Hong, S.H., Kaderali, M.A., Xu, S., Stearns T., Gingras A.-C., Ullman K.S., Ivarsson Y., Davey N.E., Cyert M.S. (2020) Systematic discovery of short linear motifs decodes calcineurin phosphatase signaling. Molecular Cell 79(2):342-358.e12. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2020.06.029

Wang J.T., Stearns T. (2017) The ABCs of centriole architecture: the form and function of triplet microtubules. Cold Spring Harbor Symposia Quantitative Biology 82:142-155. http://doi.org/10.1101/sqb.2017.82.034496

Wang J.T., Kong D., Hoerner C.R., Loncarek J., Stearns T. (2017) Centriole triplet microtubules are required for stable centriole formation and inheritance in human cells. eLife 2017;6:e29061. http://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.29061

Wang J.T., Smith J., Chen B.C., Schmidt H., Rasoloson D., Paix A., Lambrus B.G., Calidas D., Betzig E., Seydoux G. (2014) Regulation of RNA granule dynamics by phosphorylation of serine-rich, intrinsically disordered proteins in C. elegans. eLife 2014;3:e04591. http://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.04591

Chen, B.C., Legant, W.R., Wang, K., Shao, L., Milkie, D. E., Davidson, M. W., Janetopoulos, C., Wu, X.S., Hammer III, J.A., Liu, Z., English, B.P., Mimori-Kiyosue, Y., Romero, D.P., Ritter, A., Lippincott-Schwartz, J., Fritz-Laylin, L., Mullins, R.D., Mitchell, D., Bembenek, J., Reymann, A., Bohme, R., Grill, S.W., Wang, J.T., Seydoux, G., Tulu, U.S., Kiehart, D.P., Betzig, E. (2014). Lattice Light Sheet Microscopy: Imaging Molecules, Cells, and Embryos at High Spatiotemporal Resolution. Science 346(6208). http://doi.org/10.1126/science.1257998                        

Gallo C.M.*, Wang J.T.*, Motegi F., Seydoux G. (2010) Cytoplasmic partitioning of P granule components is not required to specify the germline in C. elegans. Science    330(6011):1685-1689. http://doi.org/10.1126/science.1193697 *Equal contribution.

in the news:

Biologist Wang to explore formation and regulation of key organizing complex in animal cells

Science research roundup: July and August 2022

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