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Yana Cen
Assistant Professor
Department of Medicinal Chemistry
School of Pharmacy - Dept of Medicinal Chemistry
BioTech One, Suite 205
800 E. Leigh St.
P.O. Box 980540
Richmond, VA 23298-0540
(804) 828-7405
ceny2@vcu.edu
Bio
Publications
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Area of Focus
Epigenetics, Sirtuins, Chemical Biology
Education
B.S., Chemistry (Beijing Normal University, 1998)
M.S., Organic Chemistry (Beijing Normal University, 2001)
Ph.D., Organic Chemistry (Michigan State University, 2006)
Post-Graduate Training
Postdoctoral - Pharmacology (Cornell Medical School, 2011)
Professional Experience
(2011 - 2012) Instructor, Cornell Medical School
(2012 - 2014) Research Scientist II, University of Texas Medical Branch
(2014 - 2019) Assistant Professor, Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
(2019 - Present) Assistant Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University
Research Interests
Design and Synthesis of Chemical Probes for Epigenetic Modification Enzymes
Development of Chemical Tools to Study DNA Modifications
Targeting NAD metabolism for Drug Discovery
Publications
Books/Book Chapters
Cen, Y., “Natural Products as CNS Stimulants” In Pharmacognosy; Zhang, Y. Eds.; Cognella Academic Publishing: San Diego, California, USA.
Patents
Sauve, A. A.; Cen, Y., “2-Fluorinated Riboses and Arabinoses and Methods of Use and Synthesis”, U.S. Patent No. 9,790,252
Sauve, A. A.; Cen, Y., “Reagents and Methods for Sirtuin Capture”, U.S. Patent No. 9,290,791
Recent Publications
Sharma, C.; Donu, D.; Cen, Y.*, “Emerging Role of Nicotinamide Riboside in Health and Diseases”, Nutrients, 2022, 14, 3889
Donu, D.; Sharma, C.; Cen, Y.*, “Plasmodium falciparum Nicotinamidase as A Novel Antimalarial Target”, Biomolecules, 2022, 12, 1109.
White, D. S.; Mongeluzi, D.; Curry, A. M.; Donu, D.; Cen, Y.*, “Facile Synthesis of Photoactivatable Adenosine Analogs”, RSC Advances, accepted.
Curry, A.; Cohen, I.; Zheng, S.; Wohlfahrt, J.; White, D.; Donu, D.; Cen, Y.*, “Profiling Sirtuin Activity Using Copper-free Click Chemistry”, Bioorganic Chemistry, 2021, 117, 105413.
Curry, A.; White, D.; Donu, D.; Cen, Y.*, “Human Sirtuin Regulators: the Success Stories”, Frontier in Physiology, 2021, Oct. 21, https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.752117.
Curry, A.; White, D.; Cen, Y.*, “Small Molecule Regulators Targeting NAD+ Biosynthetic Enzymes”, Current Medicinal Chemistry, 2021, online ahead of print. doi:10.2174/0929867328666210531144629.
Rymarchyk, S.; Kang, W.; Cen, Y.*, “Substrate-dependent Sensitivity of SIRT1 to Nicotinamide Inhibition”, Biomolecules, 2021, 11, 312.
Curry, A. M.; Barton, E.; Kang, W.; Mongeluzi, D. V.; Cen, Y.*, "Development of Second Generation Activity-based Chemical Probes for Sirtuins", Molecules, https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/26/1/11.
Hoyle, R.; Wang, H.; Cen, Y.; Zhang, Y.; Li, J., “IOX1 Suppresses Wnt Target Gene Transcription and Colorectal Cancer Tumorigenesis Through Inhibition of KDM3”, Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-20-0328.
Carraway, H.; Malkaram, S.; Cen, Y.; Fan, J.; Ali, H.; Abd Elmageed, Z.; Buttolph, T.; Shatnawi, A.; Denvir, J.; Primerano, D.; Fandy, T., “Activation of SIRT6 by DNA hypomethylating agents and clinical consequences on combination therapy”, Scientific Reports, 2020, 10, 10325.
Zheng, S.; Wohlfahrt, J.; Cohen, I.; Cen, Y.*, “Methods for Studying Human Sirtuins with Activity-based Chemical Probes”, Methods in Enzymology, 2020, 633, 251-269.
Tran, A.; Yokose, R.; Cen, Y.*, “Chemo-enzymatic Synthesis of Isotopically Labeled Nicotinamide Riboside”, Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, 2018, 16, 3662-3671.
Graham, E.; Rymarchyk, S.; Wood, M.; Cen, Y.*, “Development of Activity-Based Chemical Probes for Human Sirtuins”, ACS Chemical Biology, 2018, 13, 782-792.
Wood, M.; Rymarchyk, S.; Zheng, S.; Cen, Y.*, “Trichostatin A inhibits deacetylation of histone H3 and p53 by SIRT6”, Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, 2018, 638, 8-17.