Research
I have expertise in virology, antibody and stem cell wet lab work, ranging from cellular molecular biology, to pharmacology and new drug research. I did my PhD (2008-2011) at the Virology Division, Department of Pathology, Cambridge, and moved to LMB as an MRC Career Development Fellow (2011-2014), where my fellowship ended during my maternity leave and led me to a career break. In September 2023, I was awarded with the Royal Society sponsored Daphne Jackson Fellowship for my new project to make my return. I'm working on the mechanisms of viral congenital diseases at PDN and Pathology Department, Cambridge.
Research Interests:
Virus-host interactions, anti-viral pharmacology, antibody, stem cell biology, viral diseases pathogenesis and therapeutics.
Past projects at LMB:
1) Antibody chemical labelling for targeted cell killing to advance current chemotherapies.
2) Anti-viral effect of VCP inhibitors during HSV replication
3) The application of antibodies targeting cellular proteins (e.g. tau aggregation) for proteasome degradation via TRIM21, to develop new therapeutics for protein aggregation diseases (e.g. Alzheimer's)
Publications
1. Y. Ren, C. Crump, M. Mackley, S. Bell, N. Reis. Fast UVC virus inactivation in laminar microflow systems. Biotechnology and Bioengineering. 2016, 113:7-1481. On the cover.
3. Y. Ren, S. Bell, H. Zenner, K. Lau, C. Crump. Glycoprotein M is important for the efficient incorporation of glycoprotein H/L into HSV-1 particles. J. Gen. Virol. 2011, 93:319-329.
5. D. Niu, J. Zhang, Y. Ren, H. Feng, WN. Chen. HBx genotype D represses GSTP1 expression and increases the oxidative level and apoptosis in HepG2 cells. Mol. Oncol. 2009, 3(1):67-76.
6. G. Wang#, L. Shi#, Y. Ren#, Q. Liu#, H. Liu#, W. Zhao and J. Zuo. Anti-hepatitis B virus activity of chlorogenic acid, quinic acid and caffeic acid in vivo and in vitro. Antiviral Res. 2009, 83(2):186-90. #contributed equally.
7. Y. Lu#, Y. Ren#, J. Bai, WN. Chen. The spliced variant of Hepatitis B virus protein, HBSP, interacts with Bcl-2/Bcl-xl in vitro and induces apoptosis in HepG2 cells. IUBMB Life. 2008, 60(10):700-2. #contributed equally.
8. Hai-Jun Chen, et al. Yu-Dan Ren, Jian-Ping Zuo, Fa-Jun Nan. Rational design and synthesis of 2,2-bisheterocycle tandem derivatives as non-nucleoside hepatitis B virus inhibitors. ChemMedChem. 2008, 3(9):1316-21.
9. Yun-Fei Li, et al. Yu-Dan Ren, Jian-Ping Zuo, Wei Lu. Identification of 1-isopropylsulfonyl-2-amine benzimidazoles as a new class of inhibitors of hepatitis B virus. Eur J Med Chem. 2007, 42(11-12):1358-64.
10. Yun-Fei Li, et al. Yu-Dan Ren, Wei Lu, and Jian-Ping Zuo. Synthesis and anti-hepatitis B virus activity of novel benzimidazole derivatives. J. Med. Chem. 2006, 49, 15, 4790-4794.
11. R. Cheng, X. Ye, R. Zhang, Y. Ren, Y. Wang. Experimental Studies on the Antihyperlipidemic and Lipotropic Effects of Betaine on Mice. China Pharmacist. 2004, 7(6):411-3.
