Associate Research Scientist
About
As a neurobiologist and cancer-immunologist, my research is focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms of cell death and developing novel therapeutic strategies (i.e., immunotherapies) for cell-death-associated human diseases such as brain tumors, cerebral ischemia, and neurodegenerative diseases. 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) via boosting immune system functions. Our ongoing projects include: (1) we study the ion channel mechanisms of neuronal cell death with the specific goal of developing treatments for brain disorders (i.e., cerebral ischemia and Parkinson's Disease (PD)); (2) we study the mechanisms of cancer cell death with the specific goal of developing new therapies to overcome cancer drug resistance and achieve better therapeutic efficacy for advanced cancers; and (3) we study cancer-nervous system interactions with the goal of improving outcomes of many difficult-to-treat malignancies like brain metastases.
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/
