Doudna Lab

Fuguo Jiang: In Memoriam

Fuguo Jiang, a postdoc in the Doudna lab from 2013-2018, passed away in the afternoon of Nov 11th 2019 due to a cerebral hemorrhage. He has left behind his wife Meng Chen and two young sons, Adam Jiang (4 and half) and Max Jiang (6 weeks). At the time of his death, he was employed as faculty at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Fuguo’s death is a tragedy, and he will be dearly missed.

Prokaryotes (Archaea and Bacteria) have evolved a nucleic acid-stimulated immune system that shares similar functions with RNA interference in eukaryotes. CRISPR/Cas system is a microbial nuclease system involved in defense against invading phages and plasmids by integrating spacers from invading genetic elements and subsequently directing the specific cleavage of invasive homologous DNA sequences. Fuguo’s research in the Doudna lab focused on the elucidation of the molecular mechanism of the RNA-guided DNA endonuclease Cas9 from the type II CRISPR system. At the time of his death, Fuguo’s research involved the understanding the detailed mechanism by which viral anti-CRISPR proteins inhibit bacterial CRISPR immunity.

Synthetic Biology Institute College of Chemistry Dept. of Molecular & Cell Biology