Assoc. Research Scientist
About
As a neurobiologist and cancer biologist, my research interests lie in unraveling the intricate molecular mechanisms underlying cell death and developing novel therapeutic strategies for those cell-death-associated human diseases such as brain tumor, cerebral ischemia, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). Basically, we want to prevent or rescue the good cells (i.e., neurons) from cell death, while induce selective cell death in the bad cells (i.e, tumor cells). Our ongoing projects include: (1) we study the mechanism of neuronal cell death with the specific goal of developing treatments for brain disorders (i.e., cerebral ischemia, AD and PD); (2) we study the mechanism of "Lysozincrosis" (a portmanteau of lysosome, zinc, and necrosis) with the specific goal of developing new therapies to overcome chemotherapy resistance and achieve better therapeutic efficacy for difficult-to-treat malignancies, i.e. brain metastases; (3) we study cancer-nervous system interactions with the goal of improving outcomes of many advanced cancers.
Selected Publications:
Hu M, Li P, Wang C, Feng X, Geng Q, Chen W, Marthi M, Zhang W, Gao C, Reid W, Swanson J, Du W, Hume RI, Xu H. Parkinson's disease-risk protein TMEM175 is a proton-activated proton channel in lysosomes. Cell. 2022 Jun 23;185(13):2292-2308.
Gu M, Hu M, Minckley T, Pinchi P, Xu H, Qin Y, Du W. A protocol to measure lysosomal Zn2+ release through a genetically encoded Zn2+ indicator. STAR Protoc. 2022 Jun 10;3(2):101453.
Du W, Gu M, Hu M, Pinchi P, Chen W, Ryan M, Nold T, Bannaga A, Xu H. Lysosomal Zn2+ release triggers mitochondria-mediated, non-apoptotic cell death in metastatic melanoma. Cell Rep. 2021 Oct 19;37(3):109848.
Du W, Seah I, Bougazzoul O, Choi G, Meeth K, Bosenberg MW, Wakimoto H, Fisher D, Shah K. Stem cell-released oncolytic herpes simplex virus has therapeutic efficacy in brain metastatic melanomas. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 Jul 25;114(30):E6157-E6165.
Du W, Huang J, Yao H, Zhou K, Duan B, Wang Y. Inhibition of TRPC6 degradation suppresses ischemic brain damage in rats. J Clin Invest. 2010 Oct;120(10):3480-92.
Tai Y, Feng S, Ge R, Du W, Zhang X, He Z, Wang Y. TRPC6 channels promote dendritic growth via the CaMKIV-CREB pathway. J Cell Sci. 2008 Jul 15;121(Pt 14):2301-7.
Zhou J*, Du W*, Zhou K, Tai Y, Yao H, Jia Y, Ding Y, Wang Y. Critical role of TRPC6 channels in the formation of excitatory synapses. Nat Neurosci. 2008 Jul;11(7):741-3.
*Co-equal Contribution
A full list of publications is in MyBibliography:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/collections/mybibliography/
