Date: Dec. 22, 2016
Source: Biomedical Translational Research Institute
Author: Wang Zhengkun
Publisher: JNU News Center

Tong Jiyu, a third-year Ph.D. student at JNU's Biomedical Translational Research Institute (BTRI), has published a paper as the second author in the top international journal Science. The paper is titled "The DNA-sensing AIM2 inflammasome controls radiation-induced cell death and tissue injury."

Studying under Dean Yin Zhinan at BTRI, Tong is the first student in the joint Ph.D. program of Yin's research team and Richard A. Flavell's laboratory at Yale University. Prof. Flavell is the honorary director of BTRI's International Immunology Center, and also a member of both the immunology and the genetics sections of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

Tong is participating in another of Prof. Flavell's projects, studying the RNA methylase "knockout mouse," a genetically modified mouse whose original gene is replaced or disrupted with an artificial piece of DNA, in this case with the help of RNA methylase. Tong's task is to prove the activation of T cells relies on the methylation of certain genes. Two other post-doctoral researchers at BTRI also work in the lab.

Link to the paper:
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/354/6313/765