Lu Han PhD

Biography

Lu Han, Ph.D., has a long-held research interest in tissue interactions and signaling networks during organogenesis and pathogenesis. Dr. Han conducted her Ph.D. thesis studies in Dr. Aaron Zorn’s laboratory at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Her studies focused on the development of the foregut, which is a fetal structure composed of the endodermal epithelium and the surrounding splanchnic mesenchyme. Foregut gives rise to the respiratory and upper digestive systems.

Dr. Han and her colleagues discovered a remarkable diversification of the splanchnic mesenchyme in different foregut organs and elegant back-and-forth signaling crosstalk between the endoderm and the splanchnic mesenchyme. In further pursuit of her interests in tissue interactions, Dr. Han moved on to develop her expertise in cancer biology under the mentorship of Drs. Gustavo Leone and Michael Ostrowski. Pancreatic cancer is one of most devastating malignancies and is characterized by an expansion of the stromal fibroblasts. Cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) play important and complex roles in modulating the tumor microenvironment. Leveraging her knowledge in foregut development, Dr. Han constructed genetically engineered mouse models and demonstrated that the splanchnic mesenchyme is the fetal origin of pancreatic CAFs. The novel mouse models also paved the way for further investigation of CAFs and tumor interactions in vivo.

Dr. Han received continuous funding during her postdoctoral training, including National Cancer Institute (NCI) T32 Traineeship, NCI F32 Fellowship, American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship and NCI K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award. Dr. Han was recruited as an Assistant Professor in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department at the Medical University of South Carolina in Aug 2024. The Han laboratory integrates developmental biology and cancer biology to develop innovative perspectives and to discover fundamental principles governing these similar but distinct life stages. The Han laboratory strives to discover important biology of pancreatic cancer, which can ultimately benefit pancreatic cancer patients.