Dr. Whitney Yin

Hope is a theme in the lab of Whitney Yin, UT biochemistry professor.

Yin is relatively new to the University, but although she’s only been a professor for two years, she knows exactly what she wants to accomplish here.

She hopes the research she conducts on human mitochondria will help design AIDS and hepatitis drugs without the detrimental side effects of current therapies.

The direct applicability of Yin’s research convinced Hae Ryung Chang, a 1st-year graduate student, to work in the new professor’s lab.

“There’s a lot of potential for the future,” Chang said about the research. “It will benefit medicine and patients.”

The lab concentrates on the DNA and RNA found in mitochondria, organelles that create energy for every bodily function. Mitochondrial DNA provides the code for proteins used in energy creation, and is different than DNA found in the cell nucleus.

Yin’s goal is to fully understand how the mitochondria maintain, replicate, and transcribe DNA. Current drug therapies for some diseases can cause serious side effects because the drugs damage mitochondria. They can harm the mitochondria’s ability to replicate DNA, or can cause mistakes in the copying process.

If scientists fully understood the organelle, they could develop effective drugs that would not hurt the patient in this way, Yin said.

The researchers use a crystallization technique to study the proteins involved in the sequences of DNA that control replication and transcription. They make crystals form on the proteins, and then x-ray them. This provides data that the researchers use to make an atomic model of the protein’s characteristics.

Yin also studies mitochondrial DNA mutations, which can cause problems in the heart, muscles or nervous system. Another research subject deals with the involvement of thyroid hormones and estrogen in mitochondrial DNA transcription.

Hopefully, Yin said, the information gained through the research can be used in the future to develop new therapies to battle diseases and genetic disorders. In addition to this goal, Yin also thinks about the future success of her students.

“I hope eventually they develop into very accomplished scientists,” she said.

Future success was at least one reason that graduate student Young-Sam Lee decided to stay in Yin’s lab. He was trained in medicine previously, and is interested in the medical applicability of the research.

“I can show the most of my ability,” Lee said.

Two graduate students, two undergraduate students and one research scientist work in Yin’s lab.

Chang came to the lab directly after her undergraduate studies. She said Yin’s patience and one-on-one instruction has helped her immensely while she’s adapted to graduate school. Yin is always available for questions about research concepts or bench work techniques, Chang said.

“She comes a second time, and even a third time, if I still have questions,” she said.