Jean Jiang currently studies gap junctions in cell membranes that facilitate cell-to-cell messages and ion travel. She has developed antibody therapeutics that target neuro-inflammatory injuries for reductions in local inflammation and scarring. This mechanism enables neurons to regenerate and improve recovery from spinal cord injury. She has also developed an antibody therapeutic for breast cancer bone metastasis and osteosarcoma (bone cancer) to inhibit tumor growth. Both technologies have been licensed to AlaMab Therapeutics for commercialization as part of a multi-million dollar agreement. Both therapies are currently under evaluation in clinical trials. She is also working on other antibody therapies using multiple mechanisms of action relating to gap junctions.
She conducts her research as a professor and the Zachry Distinguished University Chair in the Department of Biochemistry and Structural Biology at UT Health San Antonio. She receives continuous funding from the NIH, the Welch Foundation, and others. She will be inducted as a Fellow in the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) in June 2023.
She holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from State University of New York at Stony Brook and a B.S. in Biochemistry from Nanjing University. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship in cell biology at Harvard Medical School.
