Cheng-Yin (Vanessa) Yuan

I received my Master’s degree from the Graduate Institute of Natural Products from Chang Gung University in Taiwan where my research focused on using a fractional erbium: YAG laser as a tool to enhance transdermal drug delivery with minimal skin disruption. I later worked as a lab manager at the University of California at San Diego to gain more experience in experimental design and learn essential lab techniques before I started graduate school. I received my PhD in microbiology and immunology from the Medical College of Wisconsin in May 2020. My dissertation project focused on the type 2 cannabinoid receptor (CB2R) in mediating both acute and chronic graft versus host disease (GVHD). CB2R exerts an immunosuppressive activity by regulating cytokine release and mitigates the progression of fibrosis. Therefore, my project aimed to examine the efficacy of natural and synthetic agonists that signal through the CB2R in order to alleviate inflammation and fibrosis in GVHD. As a graduate student, I also participated in the Basic and Translational Science program which promotes research that bridges the gap between basic science knowledge and clinical practice.

I joined the Drobyski lab in June 2020 as a Research Scientist. My current research has a two-fold focus: (1) one project seeks to understand a novel observation we have made that a type 2 interleukin 9-driven immune response that induces an anti-tumor effect in mice with chronic myelogenous leukemia also causes unanticipated Paneth cell metaplasia and intestinal remodeling, and (2) a second project is directed at the role of inflammatory cytokines such as GM-CSF in mediating pathological damage during GVHD.

Transplant immunology, Hematologic malignancies