Page 16 - Annual Report 2020

Yibin Deng, M.D., Ph.D.
Cell Death and Cancer Genetics
SECTION LEADER / I.J.HOLTON PROFESSOR
“Our studies will reveal whether and how the genetic changes identified in cancer patients lead to tumorigenesis in vivo and identify effective strategies targeting cancerous cells while leaving normal cells
untouched.”
Yibin Deng
Puja Singh Zhengbo Song Yu Wang Peng Li
My research lab has been utilizing genetic drug target screen and design to discover novel
engineered in vivo models to address
whether and how the genetic changes identified in cancer patients contribute to tumor initiation, progression and metastasis in vivo; utiliz- ing multiple approaches including genome editing technology (CRISPR-Cas9), X-ray crystallography and Cryo-EM to functionally and structurally under- stand how oncogenes are selectively translated in situ in tumorigenesis; and utilizing computational
small molecular compounds that selectively target human cancer cells while sparing normal cells. Accordingly, we have established a strong collabo- rative team that brings together expertise from the areas of cancer biology, medicinal chemistry, struc- tural biology, pathology, preclinical genetic in vivo models, and clinical practice aiming to identify the Achilles’ heel of cancers that can serve as a means to selectively and effectively kill cancer cells.
SUMMARY
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