Hongwu Chen, Ph.D.

Hongwu Chen

Position Title
Professor

  • Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine
Bio

Education:

  • UC Davis, Molecular Biol/Micro, Ph.D., 1994
  • The Salk Institute, Gene Expression Lab, Postdoctoral Fellow, 1996 - 1999
  • American Cancer Society, Postdoctoral Fellow, 1999


Department: Biochemistry & Molecular Medicine
Research Interests:

Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, Molecular Pharmacology, Metabolic Fate and Pharmacokinetics, Molecular, Cellular, and Biochemical Toxicology, Cancer, Gene Regulation


Research Summary:

Research in the H. Chen laboratory focuses on identification and functional elucidation of key epigenetic regulators and nuclear hormone receptors in cancer and in hormone signaling, with the following goals: 1. Identification of new cancer therapeutic targets; 2. Better understanding of molecular mechanisms and pathways underlying cancer progression such as therapeutics resistance; 3. Development of new cancer therapeutics or strategies for standalone or combination treatment; 4. Development of cancer therapeutics-companion/predictive biomarkers.


Highlighted Techniques:

We employ functional genomics (e.g. ChIP-seq and RNA-seq), metabolomics, bioinformatics, genetics and pharmacological approaches in identification of therapeutics and elucidating their mechanisms of action (MOA), and in determining the physiological and pathological functions and action mechanisms of the key regulators., Mouse KO models


Courses/Teaching:

  • PMI 285: Cellular Basis of Diseases
  • PMI 290: Seminar Series


Lab Members:

Jack (Junjian) Wang, Assistant Project Scientist, Demin Cai, Postdoc, Yuqian Jiang, Post Doc, Yongqiang Wang, Graduate student, Zenghong Huang, Graduate student


Lab Rotation Availability: Yes
Funding Sources: NIH, DoD
PubMed listing