Peptidomics of Cancer-Derived Enzyme Products

Dr. Hu's research focuses on developing and validating integrated nanotechnique-based strategies for marker discovery and molecular diagnostics in peripheral blood samples to provide a translatable solution for personalized medicine. His innovations aim to fill current gaps in early detection, real-time therapy monitoring and effective prognostics. He has assembled a diverse team with backgrounds in biochemistry, mass spectrometry, nanofabrication, and biomedical engineering to answer these needs. Dr. Hu received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin where he focused on developing nanomaterials as biosensors for disease diagnosis. He has published more than 50 journal articles and has received five U.S. patents (issued and pending) on these subjects since his first faculty appointment in 2011. Dr. Hu has also published four nanomedicine-related book chapters, and has given more than 40 seminars and invited presentations at major international scientific conferences. His research team has a history of grants from the NCI, NIAID, NICHD and DOD and awards from the Gates, Dunn, Kostas, and Cockrell family foundations. His team has in-depth knowledge of multiplex-detection method development for sample processing, mass spectrometry, biomarker identification and validation. This background ideally positions his team for a leadership role in these fields and for optimal clinical translation of their platforms for improved and comprehensive analysis of blood-based biomarkers that have broad potential clinical applications. Fuyu Tamanoi is a biochemist who has served on the UCLA School of Medicine and UCLA College faculty since he joined the Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics in 1993. He became a full professor in 1997. Since 1996, he has been a Director of Signal Transduction Program Area at Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Tamanoi earned his B.S. and M.S. in Biochemistry at the University of Tokyo. He received PhD in Molecular Biology at Nagoya University in 1977. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School, where he worked on bacteriophage DNA replication. From 1980 to 1985, he was a senior staff investigator at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he worked on adenovirus DNA replication. From 1985 to 1993, he was an Assistant Professor and then Associate Professor at the University of Chicago, where he initiated studies on lipid modification of the Ras family proteins. His laboratory research centers on signal transduction and signal transduction inhibitors. He is currently exploring ways to deliver signal transduction inhibitors using nanoparticles.