Chair in Translational Research
School of Medicine
Upon completion of his postdoctoral fellowship training at the Yale University School of Medicine, Jun Yan, M.D., Ph.D., joined the faculty of the Brown Cancer Center (BCC), department of medicine as an assistant professor in 2003. He was promoted to associate professor in 2008, and professor in 2012. He is the Co-Director of Tumor Immunobiology Program at the BCC.
Dr. Yan's goal is to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms of leukocyte recruitment and priming in tumor immunotherapy by utilizing a combination of anti-tumor mAb and yeast-derived polysaccharide b-glucan. This research focuses on tumor immunotherapy mediated by anti-tumor antibodies that bind to tumors and activate the complement, and which have been shown to be enhanced by co-administration of yeast-derived b-glucan.
Granulocytes were discovered to be effector cells for this combination therapy. b-Glucan is currently approved by the FDA for the Phase III clinical trial. Dr. Yan and his team are attempting to determine the mechanism of action of b-glucan in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell mobilization and radiation protection.
Dr. Yan also is focused on the roles of B cells in the regulation of autoreactive T cell activation and tolerance using systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Knowledge gained from these studies has led to the development of effective vaccines for cancer and infectious diseases. Dr. Yan and his team also have discovered a novel subset of dermal gd T cells which play a critical role in regulating skin inflammation.