Education

B.S. 2007, Fujian Normal University, Bio-engineering;
M.S. 2010, Xiamen University, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology;
Ph.D. 2013, Zhejiang University, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Professional Experience

Postdoctoral Fellow, Northwestern University, 2013-2018;
Research Assistant Professor, Northwestern University, 2018-2021;
Professor, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, 2021 to Present.

Research Area

Cancer stem cells, a small fraction of cells within tumors, are shown to exhibit unique abilities including self-renewal, differentiation potential, tumor re-establishing. Cancer stem cells can cause tumor invasion and metastases, angiogenesis, resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and evasion of immune surveillance. Our study uses glioma stem cells (GSCs) and mice models to study the core signaling pathways involving cell autophagy and ferroptosis, specifically the posttranslational modifications of key proteins. Once better understood, it would be interesting to see how these signaling regulators affect the proliferation, self-renewal, tumorigenesis, progression, and therapy responses of GSCs, and provide new ideas and therapeutic targets for clinical treatment of glioma.

Selected Publications

1.Huang T, Kim CK, Alvarez AA, Pangeni RP, Wan X, Song X, Shi T, Yang Y, Sastry N, Horbinski CM, Lu S, Stupp R, Kessler JA, Nishikawa R, Nakano I, Sulman EP, Lu X, James CD, Yin XM, Hu B, Cheng SY. MST4 Phosphorylation of ATG4B Regulates Autophagic Activity, Tumorigenicity, and Radioresistance in Glioblastoma. Cancer Cell, 2017, 32: 840–855.
2.Huang T, Yang Y, Song X, Wan X, Wu B, Sastry N, Horbinski CM, Zeng C, Tiek D, Goenka A, Liu F, Brennan CW, Kessler JA, Stupp R, Nakano I, Sulman EP, Nishikawa R, James CD, Zhang W, Xu W, Hu B, Cheng SY. PRMT6 Methylation of RCC1 Regulates Mitosis, Tumorigenicity, and Radiation Response of Glioblastoma Stem Cells. Molecular Cell, 2021, 81(6):1276-1291.
3.Huang T, Alvarez AA, Pangeni RP, Horbinski CM, Lu S, Kim SH, James CD, J Raizer J, A Kessler J, Brenann CW, Sulman EP, Finocchiaro G, Tan M, Nishikawa R, Lu X, Nakano I, Hu B, Cheng SY. A regulatory circuit of miR-125b/miR-20b and Wnt signalling controls glioblastoma phenotypes through FZD6-modulated pathways. Nature Communications. 2016, 7:12885.
4.Huang T, Wan X, Alvarez AA, James CD, Song X, Yang Y, Sastry N, Nakano I, Sulman EP, Hu B, Cheng SY. MIR93 (microRNA -93) Regulates Tumorigenicity and Therapy Response of Glioblastoma by Targeting Autophagy. Autophagy, 2019, 15(6):1100-1111.
5.Huang T, Song X, Xu D, Tiek D, Goenka A, Wu B, Sastry N, Hu B, Cheng SY. Stem cell programs in cancer initiation, progression, and therapy resistance. Theranostics, 2020, 10(19):8721-8743.