Rate My Professor Yana Cen

Yana Cen is an Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry in the School of Pharmacy at Virginia Commonwealth University. She received her B.S. in Chemistry (1998) and M.S. in Organic Chemistry (2001) from Beijing Normal University, and her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Michigan State University (2006). Cen completed postdoctoral training as a Postdoctoral Associate and Instructor in the Department of Pharmacology at Weill Cornell Medical College (2006-2012). Her professional career includes serving as Research Scientist II in the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology at the University of Texas Medical Branch (2012-2014) and Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (2014-2019). She joined Virginia Commonwealth University as Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry in 2019 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2024.

Cen's research program centers on the design and synthesis of chemical probes for epigenetic modification enzymes, including sirtuins and KDMs, targeting NAD+ metabolism for drug discovery, and developing tools to study DNA modifications. Her focus areas encompass epigenetics, sirtuins, and chemical biology. She has received major awards such as the Bertha Rolfe Teacher of the Year Award (VCU School of Pharmacy, 2024), Blick Scholar (VCU, 2023), Emerging Faculty Scholar Award (VCU School of Pharmacy, 2022), and Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award (2021). Cen has secured prestigious funding, including NIH R01GM143176 'Small Molecule Approach to Activate Human SIRT5' (PI, $1,454,952, 2022-2026) and NSF CAREER CHE-1846785 'Allosteric Activation of SIRT6 by DNA' (PI, $463,995, 2019-2025). Key publications include 'Nicotinamide Riboside Activates SIRT5 Deacetylation' (FEBS Journal, 2023), 'IOX1 Suppresses Wnt Target Gene Transcription and Colorectal Cancer Tumorigenesis' (Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, 2021), 'Human Sirtuin Regulators: The Success Stories' (Frontiers in Physiology, 2021), and earlier works such as 'The NAD+ Precursor Nicotinamide Riboside Enhances Oxidative Metabolism and Protects against High-Fat Diet-Induced Obesity' (Cell Metabolism, 2012). With 53 peer-reviewed publications and over 4,700 citations, her contributions have significantly influenced sirtuin enzymology, NAD metabolism, and therapeutic development in aging and metabolic diseases.