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2021 Highlights

A new member for the Cancer Biology Program Steering Committee

Congratulations to Daniel Zamler for being selected to serve in the Cancer Biology Steering Committee!

SCBA-TX Chapter Virtual Symposium

Congratulations to Fatma Yasar for winning the Professor Alexander Yeu-Ming Wang Memorial Scholarship at the annual SCBA-TX symposium with her oral presentation and elevator speech.

Cancer Biology Program Virtual Symposium 2021 Hu Lab Awardees

Congratulations to Daniel Zamler and Fatma Yasar on their awards! Daniel won first place in the Great Cancer Biology Science Debate, and Fatma won first place and People's Choice awards in the oral presentation competition.

Dean's Scholarship

Congratulations to Takese McKenzie for receiving the Dean's Scholarship from MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences!

Odyssey Fellow- Ailiang

Congratulations to Dr. Ailiang Zeng for receiving the prestigious Odyssey Fellowship from MD Anderson Cancer Center!

An NIH awardee in the lab!

Congratulations are in order for Joseph Barnes-Vélez, who received the prestigious NIH F32 Predoctoral Fellowship! This competitive award was given in recognition to Joseph`s impactful research that focuses on providing new therapeutic targets for adult-onset demyelinating diseases. Exceptional work, Joseph!

New Publication at Nature Communications

Congratulations to our Dr. Seula Shin, for her publication at Nature Communications. Dr. Shin demonstrated that Qki promotes transcriptional activation of the cholesterol biosynthesis genes, through a functional cooperation with cholesterol master regulator Srebp2. Loss of Qki led to a severe form of cataract in animal models, which was then ameliorated by treatment with lanosterol, a drug that can be converted to cholesterol in the body. Dr. Shin's study provides new insights into therapeutic options for tissue-specific modulation of cholesterol levels and a potential for surgery-free treatment options for cataract. Read the article

New Publication at eLife

Congratulations to Dr. Xin Zhou and Dr. Seula Shin, for their publication at eLife. Dr. Zhou and Dr. Shin discovered that Qki regulates de novo myelin synthesis in the central nervous system. Loss of Qki in oligodendrocyte precursors during the onset of developmental myelination led to a severe inability of myelinogenesis and subsequent death of the animals. Moreover, gene expression analyses showed that cholesterol biosynthesis is significantly impaired upon Qki loss in the oligodendrocyte lineage. Dr. Zhou and Dr. Shin demonstrated that Qki cooperates with cholesterol regulator Srebp2 to promote cholesterol biosynthesis, providing the essential building block for myelin synthesis. Read the full paper

A Big Welcome to Newest Hu Lab Members

Hu lab is growing! Welcome to our new graduate students Bridgitte and Takese!

2020 Highlights

First Ph.D. Graduation from the Hu Lab

Seula Shin recently had her Ph.D. thesis defense with an outstanding presentation! Seula is the first Ph.D. student of Hu Lab and has been an exceptional student during her time at MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Congratulations, Dr. Shin!

New Publication at JEM

Congratulations to Dr. Jiangong Ren, a senior post doc at Hu Lab, for his most recent publication at the Journal of Experimental Medicine. Dr. Ren discovered that Qki is a novel and essential regulator of phagocytosis in CNS resident immune cells, microglia. His work using mice and human brain samples demonstrated that Qki is induced in microglia upon demyelination. Furthermore, loss of Qki in microglia severely impaired their ability to clear myelin debris via phagocytosis. Qki regulated phagocytosis by promoting RNA stability. Depletion of its target, CD36, hindered phagocytosis in microglia and macrophages. Unresolved myelin debris can lead to axon damage and impair remyelination. Dr. Ren`s work provides new insights into the important role of microglia in demyelinating diseases. View the article

The CCE Welcomes a New Scholar

Congratulations to Fatma Yasar for being accepted into the Center for Cancer Epigenetics (CCE) Scholars Program. The CCE scholar award was given in recognition for Fatma’s exceptional training and research that is providing exciting insights in the fields of transcriptional regulation and neurodevelopment. Outstanding work, Fatma!

A Most Prestigious Award

A round of applause for Seula Shin for receiving the 2020 President’s Scholarship, an award given to senior graduate school students with outstanding research accomplishments that is regarded as the most prestigious honor for current students. Great job, Seula!

A Thesis Well Defended

Shout out to Yating Li for successfully defending her Master’s thesis this month. Congratulations, Yating!

New Fellowship Awarded to Dr. Hu

For his research and excellence as a scientist, Dr. Jian Hu has been awarded the 2020 Andrew Sabin Family Fellowship, a $100,000, 2-year fellowship awarded to MD Anderson Cancer Center scientists working in groundbreaking cancer research. Our lab would like to extend a special thanks to the Andrew Sabin Family Foundation and to Mr. Andrew Sabin for making this fellowship possible and for their special contribution in Making Cancer History®.

New Publication at JCI

Congratulations to Xin Zhou, a senior post doc at Dr. Hu’s lab, for his recent discovery regarding myelin maintenance and lipid homeostasis, just published this month at the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Zhou demonstrated how quaking (Qki) protein regulated lipid metabolism in myelin-producing cells in the central nervous system by co-activating transcription factors which drive the expression of lipid metabolism pathways. Perturbing this regulator axis caused severe demyelination and early animal demise, which could be significantly ameliorated if animals were treated with drugs that restore the transcription factor activity. Importantly, clinical samples from patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), a human disease characterized by myelin loss, exhibited reduced expression for Qki and downregulation of lipid metabolism gene expression, suggesting that a similar pathology may occur in humans, opening the possibility that these agonists and others like them may have use in MS and MS-like disorders. You can view a summary of the paper presented by Dr. Hu at the JCI and see related posts at other sites here and here.

T32 Fellowship Awarded

We extend a special congratulations to Daniel Zamler for achieving a T32 Training Fellowship (5-T32-CA-186892-04), a nationwide, highly competitive NIH fellowship given to outstanding trainees. Congrats Dan, keep it up!

2019 Highlights

Jian Hu receives the John P. McGovern Teaching Award

This year, Hu received the John P. McGovern Award for Outstanding Teaching of 2019 at the MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. This award is given to faculty nominated by graduate school students in recognition for various attributes, including demonstrating excellence in teaching, fostering independent thinking and caring for student interests and needs. Hu’s acceptance speech can be viewed here.

Cheers to our students!

At the Hu Lab, a hearty round of congratulations is in order for all our students after securing multiple awards this year in recognition of their hard work and promising training, including:

Seula Shin, for having successfully renewed her Russell and Diana Hawkins Family Foundation Discovery Fellowship from MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Seula is the recipient of two prior fellowships at the graduate school, including the Sam Taub and Beatrice Burton Endowed Fellowship in Vision Disease and the Roberta M. and Jean M. Worsham Endowed Fellowship. Additionally, this year Seula received the poster presentation award of the 2019 Korean-American Bio-Medical Symposium, a new addition to her earlier awards, including 2nd place for the Oral Presentation Competition at the 2017 Student Research Day, and the Outstanding Poster Presentation Award at the 2016 Cancer Biology Program Retreat.
Fatma Yasar, for receiving the Steve Lasher and Janiece Longoria Graduate Student Research Award in Cancer Biology from MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Additionally, Fatma received 1st place and People’s Choice Awards for the Elevator Speech Competition at the 2019 Graduate Student Research Day, and 1st place for the post-candidacy poster presentation at the 2019 Cancer Biology Program Retreat, all provided in recognition for her excellence in communicating science succinctly and across broad audiences. Finally, Fatma is also the recipient of two travel awards this year, the 2019 Travel Award (graduate school) and the 2019 Cancer Biology Program Travel Award.
Daniel Zamler, for receiving the Andrew Sowell-Wade Huggins Scholarship in Cancer Research from MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Moreover, Daniel was awarded 1st place in the Oral Presentation Contest at the 2019 Cancer Biology Program Retreat for his high merit in scientific presentation and communication.
Yating Li, for being awarded the Mercedes-Benz of West Houston Scholarship from MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. In addition, Yating also shared 1st place in the Shark Tank Competition at the 2019 Cancer Biology Program Retreat for her scientific ingenuity, business acumen and skillful presentation.
Joseph Barnes, for being accepted into the UTHealth Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences TL1 Training Fellowship for his promising training in biomedical and translational sciences.