Dr. Xiaolu Yang is a arofessor in the department of cancer biology and an investigator in the Abramson Cancer Research Institute at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. In his studies of cancer, Dr. Yang and his lab discovered a new protein quality control (PQC) system in animal cells. This system is highly effective in suppressing protein misfolding and aggregation and is mechanistically distinct from canonical PQC systems. A main research focus of his lab now is to investigate the mechanism of action of this PQC system and its role in neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson’s disease.