Yuan Chang

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Yuan Chang (born November 17, 1959) is a virologist and pathologist who co-discovered Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV).

She was born in Taipei, Taiwan and moved to the United States as a young child. She was raised in Salt Lake City, Utah and received an MD from the University of Utah College of Medicine. In 1994, she co-discovered KSHV[1], also called human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8), working with her husband Patrick S. Moore at Columbia University. Chang trained in neuropathology at Stanford University under the noted clinical neuropathologist, Dikran Houroupian, publishing studies on eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome and progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. Although initially interested in using representational difference analysis to study the genetic origins of brain tumors, she applied this technique to Kaposi's sarcoma resulting in the discovery of this new human tumor virus. Drs. Chang, Moore and collaborators subsequently showed that this virus was the etiologic agent of Kaposi's sarcoma, primary effusion lymphoma, and multicentric Castleman's disease. From two small DNA fragments representing less than 1% of the viral genome, she cloned the entire KSHV 165 kbase genome allowing it to be fully sequenced two years after its initial discovery[2]. Chang and Moore, together with Huichen Feng and Masahiro Shuda, also discovered Merkel cell polyomavirus, a likely viral contributor to Merkel cell carcinoma.

Dr. Chang is now a professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh. She has received a number of awards for her work, including the Meyenburg Foundation Award for Cancer Research, the Robert Koch Prize, The Sloan-Kettering Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research,[3] the New York City Mayor’s Award for Excellence in Science & Technology and the General Motors Charles S. Mott Prize in Cancer Research.

[edit] References

  • Chang Y, Cesarman E, Pessin M, et al. Identification of herpesvirus-like DNA sequences in AIDS-associated Kaposi's sarcoma. Science 1994;266:1865-9.
  • Moore PS, Chang Y. Detection of herpesvirus-like DNA sequences in Kaposi's sarcoma in patients with and without HIV infection. N Engl J Med 1995;332(18):1181-5.
  • Cesarman E, Chang Y, Moore PS, Said JW, Knowles DM. Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus-like DNA sequences in AIDS-related body-cavity-based lymphomas. N Engl J Med 1995;332(18):1186-91.
  • Antman K, Chang Y. Kaposi's sarcoma. New Engl J Med 2000;342(14):1027-38.