News
2025
Honami Naora, Ph.D., and her team published a paper in the journal Cancer Cell.
2024
Honami Naora, Ph.D., professor, was selected as an honoree of the Education & Mentorship category of the 2024 UT MD Anderson’s Celebration of Faculty Excellence. The celebration was held on August 8, 2024, at III by Wolfgang Puck.
Image: Hoanmi Naora, Ph.D. (left) and Dihua Yu, M.D., Ph.D. (right), Chair ad interim
Graduate students lunch, April 4, 2024
Drs. Chunru Lin and Dihua Yu hosted a lunch at Sixty Vines.
Front row (left to right): Lisa Angela Huang (Lin and Yang), Yimin Cai (Ying), Dr. Dihua Yu, Yueh-Ming Shyu (Yu) and Pengju Gong (Lin and Yang)
Back row (left to right): Wei-Chieh Yu (Lo), Hao-Nien Chen (Yu), Alyssa Shulman (Yu), Drew Boagni (yu), Dr. Chunru Lin, Chaitali Bhadiadra (Lin and Yang) and Shao-Ping Yang (Yu).
Hironari Akasaka won a 2024 Outside-the-Box grant in honor of Sharon White from the HERA Ovarian Cancer Foundation.
Dr. Suet-Ying Kwan (mentor: Dr. Laura Beretta) was selected to receive an award of $1,000 by the scientific committee of 2024 Gut Microbiota For Health Summit. Title is “Protection against fibrosis by a bacterial consortium in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis and the role of amino acid metabolism.”
Dr. Zhou Joe Jiang (mentor: Dr. Chunru Lin) is an awardee of the 2024 AACR-Scholar-in-Training Award supported by a grant from Daiichi Sankyo in the amount of $1,450, based on the abstract “Revitalizing CAR-T cells for TNBC: Targeting phosphorylation of TCF7 to overcome T cell exhaustion.”
2023
July 28, 2023
MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences students in the department discussed student leaders’ transition and prepared for the Aug. 30, 2023 welcome new students event. Yiming Cai will be the departmental student representative to give a short talk.
From left to right: Alyssa Shulman (Yu), Shao-Ping Yang (Yu), Pengju Gong (Lin/Yang), Lisa Angela Huang (Lin/Yang), Yiming Cai (Ying), Dr. Dihua Yu, Phuoc Thi My Nguyen (Ying), Yueh-Ming Shyu (Yu), Runze Shen (Tainer), Ahmed Emam (Tainer) and Hao-Nien Chen (Yu)
April 27, 2023 Pizza Party
Left to right: Drs. Song, Lin, Ying, Lee, Yang, Lo, Tainer, Draetta, Gottlieb, Naora, Chiao and Yu
Dr. Min Sup Song (with mask) and admin team
Dr. Chunru Lin and team members
Left to right: Drs. Giulio Draetta, Haoqiang Ying, Liuqing Yang and Yuan-Hung Lo
Drs. Zamal Ahmed and Min Gyu Lee
Dr. Dihua Yu's members in the front
Dr. Liuqing Yang is one of five finalists for the 2023 Julie and Ben Rogers Award for Excellence in the area of Research.
Dr. Laura Beretta is a recipient of the Ashbel Smith Professorship.
Dr. Dihua Yu's paper titled "Allergic mediator histamine confers immunotherapy resistance in cancer patients via histamine receptor 1 on macrophage" was selected to enter STAT Madness, an online bracket competition to recognize the top discoveries in biomedicine, and advanced to the quarterfinal.
2022
September 9, 2022
Chunru Lin and Haoqiang Ying met with the department's MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences students, along with first-year graduate students at Hu's Cooking.
Front table (clockwise): Dr. Haoqiang Ying, Shao-Ping Yang (Yu), Hao-Nien Chen (Yu), Malelaine Theardy (first-year student), Ahmed Emam (Tainer), Runze Shen (Tainer), Lisa Huang (Yang)
Back table (clockwise): Pengju Gong (Lin), Zhouyihan Li (first-year student), Dr. Chunru Lin, Yiming Cai (Ying), Yue Zeng (first-year student), Phuoc Nguyen (Ying) and Yueh-Ming Shyu (first-year student)
August 3, 2022: Buca di Beppo graduate student luncheon
Dr. Dihau Yu initiated a Molecular and Cellular Oncology MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences student community monthly social to promote communications and enhance training experience among the department's graduate students. Dr. Yu hosted the first luncheon on August 3, 2022, at Buca di Beppo.
Left to right: Naga Babu Chinnam (Tainer), Runze Shen (Tainer), Ahmed Emam (Tainer), Shao-Ping Yang (Yu), Hao-Nien Chen(Yu), Dr. Dihua Yu, Yiming Cai (Ying), Phuoc Nguyen (Ying), Pengju Gong (Lin) and Lisa Huang (Yang)
May 28, 2022
2022 AACR Abstract Presenters
Members were encouraged to participate in the AACR meeting. Dihua Yu, M.D., Ph.D., established the 2021 AACR Annual Meeting Virtual Travel Award to cover a portion of the registration fee for students, postdoctoral fellows, research scientists and instructors whose first-authored abstract was accepted by AACR.
Presenter: Hironari Akasaka, Postdoc Fellow
Title: Impact of peritoneal lavage on omentum immune cell dynamics and metastasis
Summary: Peritoneal lavage ‘primes’ the omentum to be conducive for colonization by occult cancer cells that circulate in the peritoneal fluid.
Authors: Hironari Akasaka, Honami Naora
Presenter: Mei-Kuang Chen, Postdoc Fellow
Title: FGFR3 Mediated PARP1 Tyrosine 158 Phosphorylation Promotes PARP Inhibitor Resistance
Summary: We observed a high prevalence of activated fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) kinase in the PARPi-resistant triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells. Biochemistry studies suggested that FGFR3-mediated PARP1 tyrosine 158 phosphorylation contributes to PARPi resistance. We further demonstrated that the combination of FGFR inhibitor and PARPi delayed DNA repair with prolonged PARP trapping. These findings reveal that the tyrosine 158 phosphorylated PARP1 may be an effective biomarker to indicate FGFR3 mediated PARPi resistance.
Authors: Mei-Kuang Chen, Yuan Gao, Weiya Xia, Yu-Han Wang, Jennifer K. Litton, Yu-Yi Chu, Funda Meric-Bernstam, Helen Piwnica-Worms, Banu Arun, Jordi Roden Ahnert, Yongkun Wei, Wei-Chao Chan, Hung-Ling Wang, Coya Tapia, Costance T. Albarracin, Shao-Chun Wang, Ying-Nai Wang, Gabriel N. Hortobagyi, Chunru Lin, Liuqing Yang, Dihua Yu, and Mien-Chie Hung
Presenter: Yimin Duan, Postdoc Fellow
Title: Assessing the effect of blocking CCL2-CCR2 axis on breast cancer brain metastasis
Summary: Targeting CCR2 or CCL2 results in differential response in multiple preclinical brain metastasis models, which direct us to explore the function of CCR2 low myeloid cells in regulating brain metastasis progression.
Authors: Yimin Duan, Yutao Qi, Lin Zhang, Xiangliang Yuan, Dihua Yu
Presenter: Chunxiao Liu, Instructor
Title: RNase7-guided anti-ROS1 targeted therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma
Summary: This study explored an oncogenic role of RNase7 in HCC and
provided a rationale to choose RNase7 as a potential plasma biomarker
to stratify HCC patients for
anti-ROS1 targeted therapy.
Authors: Chunxiao Liu, Zhengyu Zha, Chenhao Zhou,
Dihua Yu, Ning Ren and
Mien-Chie Hung
Presenter: Emily Shao-Ping Yang, Graduate Research Assistant
Title: HDAC inhibitor Panobinostat enhances efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitor via upregulating antigen presentation in breast cancer brain metastasis
Summary: Histone deacetylase inhibition (HDACi) reverses and augments expression of antigen presentation gene, major histocompatibility class I (MHC-I), in breast-to-brain metastasis, enhancing tumor recognition by cytotoxic CD8 T cells (CTLs) in combination of anti-PD1 immune checkpoint inhibitor.
Authors: Shao-Ping Yang, Yimin Duan, Xiangliang Yuan, Lin Zhang, Patrick Zhang, Jason Huse, Dihua Yu
Presenter: Arseniy Yuzhalin, Odyssey Fellow
Title: Interplay between CDK5 and IRF2BP1 enhances breast cancer brain metastasis
Summary: The observed interplay between CDK5 and IRF2BP1 reveals a previously unknown mechanism of MHC-I regulation in cancer cells, that might improve our knowledge about cancer cell immune evasion through MHC-I loss.
Authors: Arseniy Yuzhalin, Frank Lowery, Yohei Saito, Patrick Zhang, Dihua Yu
Presenter: Lin Zhang, Instructor
Title: EZH2 engages TGFb signaling to promote breast cancer bone metastasis via Integrin b1-FAK activation
Summary: We discovered integrin b1-FAK as a new downstream effector of EZH2 in breast cancer cells, and EZH2-integrin b1-FAK axis cooperates with TGFb signaling pathway to promote bone metastasis of breast cancer.
Authors: Lin Zhang, Jingkun Qu, Yutao Qi, Yimin Duan, Yu-Wen Huang, Zhifen Zhou, Ping Li, Jun Yao, Beibei Huang, Shuxing Zhang, Dihua Yu
Mei-Kuang Chen, Ph.D., (Mentor: Dr. Dihua Yu) selected for 2022 AACR-Doreen J. Putrah Cancer Research Foundation Scholar-in-Training Award.
Zhou Jiang, Ph.D., (mentor: Dr. Dihua Yu) is one of the recipients of the 2022 Harold C. and Mary L. Dailey Endowment Fellowship ($2,000).
Yongkun Wei, Assistant Professor Haoqiang Ying's Group, is an awardee of the 2022-2023 Career Enhancement Program (CEP) of GI Cancer SPORE (06/01/2022-05/31/2023, $50,000).
2021
September 2021: Welcoming First-year The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Students
The department welcomed new Ph.D. and M.S. students to a research information session. Faculty and students shared the wide range of exciting research in departmental labs.
May 2021: Virtual Employee Appreciation Celebration
Chair ad interim Dr. Yu, faculty and DA ad interim Pat Lopez shared their accomplishments and appreciation for employees. Employees played games and sang along.
Drs. Yi Xiao and Yuan Zhang interviewed by Oncology Learning Network
Yuan Zhang, Ph.D., and Yi Xiao, Ph.D., discussed using low-dose PI3K inhibitors to boost immune surveillance and facilitate early intervention in patients with breast cancer. Dr. Zhang is a postdoctoral fellow and mentee to Dihua Yu, M.D., Ph.D., and Dr. Xiao is an instructor in Dr. Yu’s lab.
They were interviewed by Alexis Hyams of Oncology Learning Network, and the interview was posted in MD Anderson Cancer Center News on April 29, 2021.
Yutao Qi's M.S. Thesis Defense: April 23, 2021
Yutao Qi
Dr. Dihua Yu, mentor of Yutao Qi, introduced his committee members and other participants
Thesis Defense attendees
Yutao Qi received a floral arrangement
Dr. Yajuan Li has been selected as a 2021 STAT Wunderkind. As a postdoctoral fellow, Li zeroed in on determining the functions of long noncoding RNAs. One of them, she discovered, could be particularly useful for treating an inherited genetic disease called phenylketonuria, or PKU.
Five publications were selected for the Wall of Science:
- Dr. Dihua Yu , Cancer Cell
- Dr. Min Sup Song, Cell Metabolism
- Drs. John Tainer and Chi-Lin Tsai, Molecular Cell
- Drs. John Tainer and Zamal Ahmed, Sciences Advances
- Drs. Chunru Lin and Liuqing Yang , Science
Dr. Chunru Lin is one of six recipients of the FY21 Faculty Scholar Award.
Two trainees obtained an endowed fellowship in FY21 cycle.
- Arseniy Yuzhalin, Ph.D., Odyssey Postdoc Fellow (mentor: Dr. Dihua Yu)—2021 Harold C. and Mary L. Dailey Endowment Fellowship ($2,000)
- Chunxiao Liu, Ph.D., first author in J Hepatology published in April 2021 (mentor: Dr. Dihua Yu)—2021 Harold C. and Mary L. Dailey Endowment Fellowship ($2,000)
Dr. Arseniy Yuzhalin (Odyssey Postdoc Fellow, mentor: Dr. Dihua Yu), PI: FY2021 DoD CDMRP BCRP Breakthrough Award BC210402 -Funding Level 1 “Targeting the Glia-Induced CDK5 Expression That Enforces Antigenic Escape of Brain Metastasis”, impact score 1.8, was recommended for funding, $729,000 total cost for 36 months.
Dr. Suet Ying Kwan, an instructor in Dr. Beretta’s group, obtained HCC SPORE CEP Award (09/01/2021-08/31/2021, $50,000).
In an interview with Oncology Learning Network, Yuan Zhang, Ph.D., and Yi Xiao, Ph.D., discussed using low-dose PI3K inhibitors to boost immune surveillance and facilitate early intervention in patients with breast cancer. Dr. Zhang is a postdoctoral fellow and mentee to Dihua Yu, M.D., Ph.D., and Dr. Xiao is an instructor in Dr. Yu’s lab.
2020
Virtual Holiday Celebration 2020 was held 12/11/2020
First Ph.D. defense via WebEx: April 9, 2020
Ms. Mei-Kuang Kathy Chen held the department's first-ever Ph.D. defense via WebEx. There were more than 70 participants joining in.
Dr. Dihua Yu, chair of Kathy’s advisory committee, introduced Kathy to participants
Dr. Mien-Chie Hung, Kathy’s thesis co-advisor, joined from Taiwan and praised great qualifications as a Ph.D. student and as a team player
Valentine's Social
Origami Heart
Pat, Arseniy (Winner #2) and Dr. Yu
Vonta, Jaw-Ching, Marisela, Jeng, & Gerardo
Jie, Lisa, Chengcao, Jianhua, Yajuan, Manish, & Shilpa
Winners Yuan, Yun and Jianhua with Dr. Yu
Liang, Xiaofei, Yanqing, & Shuai
Ping and Yimin
Faculty & Administrative Staff Luncheon
Dr. Song, Gerardo T. Montemayor, Dr. Lin, Marisela Ponce, Dr. Yu
Marisela Ponce, Dr. Yu and Dr. Liu
Pat Lopez, Dr. Tainer, Ann Wang
Jennifer Husmo and Dr. Lee
Irene Shih and Josalyn Scott
Andrea Morgan, Dr. Ying, Vonta Ward, Dr. Song
Dr. Tainer, Ann Wang, Dr. Beretta, Zhenbo Han, Dr. Song
2019
2019 Holiday Party
Beretta Lab
Tainer Lab
YH & Tainer Labs
MCO Social Committee & Admin
Yu Lab
Tainer Lab
Lee Lab
MCO Mighty Molecules at the 2019 UT MD Anderson's Boot Walk to End Cancer®
MCO Mighty Molecules group photo
Members of the MCO Mighty Molecules
MCO Mighty Molecules large group photo
MCO Mighty Molecules