Fei Wang, Ph.D.

Dr. Wang conducted his early research in gene therapy at Fudan University in China. His Ph.D training at University of Massachusetts-Amherst led him to the direction of organelle biogenesis with focus on the molecular mechanism of chloroplast protein import in Arabidopsis thaliana. Then he adapted a powerful genetic and biochemical model system, yeast (saccharomyces cerevisiae), to dissect a post translational SRP/Sec61 independent ER membrane protein targeting pathway (GET pathway, guided-entry of tai-anchored protein insertion). He currently is working on revealing the role of Autophagy in cell development, aiming to understand the molecular mechanism. His studies will shed light directly on autophagy functions in eukaryotic gametogenesis, the production of sperm (spermatogenesis) and oocytes (oogenesis), and more broadly, on how the autophagic machinery rearranges membranes for crucial aspects of development. He is father of two kids and a Chinese poem writer.

• Autophagy
• Cell Development and Aging
• Organelle Biogenesis
• Protein Trafficking and Targeting

Featured Publications

Cdc14 spatiotemporally dephosphorylates Atg13 to activate autophagy during meiotic divisions.

Feng W, Argüello-Miranda O, Qian S, Wang F, J Cell Biol 2022 May 221 5

Autophagy of an Amyloid-like Translational Repressor Regulates Meiotic Exit.

Wang F, Zhang R, Feng W, Tsuchiya D, Ballew O, Li J, Denic V, Lacefield S, Dev. Cell 2020 Jan 52 2 141-151.e5

The Get1/2 transmembrane complex is an endoplasmic-reticulum membrane protein insertase.

Wang F, Chan C, Weir NR, Denic V Nature 2014 Aug 512 7515 441-4

The Autophagy, Inflammation and Metabolism Center international eSymposium - an early-career investigators' seminar series during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nieto-Torres JL, Durgan J, Franco-Romero A, Grumati P, Guardia CM, Leidal AM, Mandell MA, Towers CG, Wang F, J Cell Sci 2021 10 134 19

Autophagy prevents runaway meiotic divisions.

Wang F, Denic V, Lacefield S, Autophagy 2020 05 16 5 969-970

The mechanism of tail-anchored protein insertion into the ER membrane.

Wang F, Whynot A, Tung M, Denic V Mol. Cell 2011 Sep 43 5 738-50

Structural basis for tail-anchored membrane protein biogenesis by the Get3-receptor complex.

Stefer S, Reitz S, Wang F, Wild K, Pang YY, Schwarz D, Bomke J, Hein C, Löhr F, Bernhard F, Denic V, Dötsch V, Sinning I Science 2011 Aug 333 6043 758-62

Substrate binding disrupts dimerization and induces nucleotide exchange of the chloroplast GTPase Toc33.

Oreb M, Höfle A, Koenig P, Sommer MS, Sinning I, Wang F, Tews I, Schnell DJ, Schleiff E Biochem. J. 2011 Jun 436 2 313-9

Energetic manipulation of chloroplast protein import and the use of chemical cross-linkers to map protein-protein interactions.

Inoue H, Wang F, Inaba T, Schnell DJ Methods Mol. Biol. 2011 774 307-20

A chaperone cascade sorts proteins for posttranslational membrane insertion into the endoplasmic reticulum.

Wang F, Brown EC, Mak G, Zhuang J, Denic V Mol. Cell 2010 Oct 40 1 159-71

• Sara Elizabeth O'Brien Trust (Charles A. King Trust) Postdoctoral Fellowship
  The Sara Elizabeth O'Brien Trust, Bank of America, N.A. (2013-2015)