Research Abstract
Cell-surface proteins are central regulators of cellular function and serve as critical markers distinguishing healthy and diseased cells. I am a chemist developing protein engineering and chemical biology approaches to elucidate how dysregulated cell-surface signaling drives cancer progression and immune evasion. We also engineer protein molecules that rewire these pathways for therapeutic purposes.
My research focuses on creating new molecular modalities that redirect malignant signaling toward selective tumor destruction and on elucidating how tumor cells interact with immune and stromal components within the disease microenvironment. Recently, we developed Transferrin Receptor Targeting Chimeras (TransTACs), a bispecific antibody platform for targeted degradation of membrane proteins in cancer (Nature, 2024). In parallel, we are building tissue-level extracellular signaling profiling and recording platforms to map tumor microenvironment signaling dynamics and cell-cell interactions.
In addition to advancing technologies to decode and reprogram cancer signaling, we aim to translate these discoveries into clinical applications. TransTACs and TransTAC-drug conjugates offer new strategies for the selective degradation of oncogenic receptors and the efficient delivery of therapeutics to cancer cells. These efforts have led to the development of prototype drugs targeting drug-resistant non-small cell lung cancer and triple-negative breast cancer. Our long-term goal is to apply the approaches we develop to uncover molecular mechanisms of the disease microenvironments and to create programmable biomolecules that expand treatment options for cancer patients.