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Wenjian Gan PhD

Provider Image
Rank
  • Associate Professor
College
  • College of Medicine
Department
  • Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Academic Focus
  • Post-translational modifications in cell signaling pathways and cancer
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Locations

Office Location
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Biography

Education and Training

2012-2018    Postdoctoral Fellow, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School

2007-2012    Ph.D.,  Peking University, Beijing, P.R. China.

2001-2005    B.S.,    Biotechnology, Guangxi University, Nanning, P.R. China.

 

Research

A major research focus in my new laboratory is to investigate the roles of E3 ubiquitin ligases in cancer development, particularly the family of F-box E3 ubiquitin ligases. Specifically, I am interested in identifying the upstream regulators that modulate the activity of these E3 ubiquitin ligases, and characterizing their downstream substrates to dissect their functions in genome stability and tumorigenesis. I am also interested in identifying  deubiquitinases that antagonize these E3s’ roles. Another research focus in my laboratory is to study the aberrant activation of kinase cascades. I am interested in elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying how post-translational modifications including phosphorylation and ubiquitination affect the activation of mTOR/Akt signaling pathway. Our goals are not only to expand our understanding the physiological roles of E3 ubiquitin ligases and mTOR/Akt signaling pathway, but also to develop novel strategies and drugs as potential therapeutic tools to target these deregulated signaling pathway for cancer therapies. To achieve these goals, we employ a range of complementary methods, including biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology, functional cell-based assays and mouse genetic models.