<\/p>\n
Dr. Hongtao\u2002Yu<\/strong>\u2002is Chair Professor and Dean of School of Life Sciences at Westlake University. Dr. Yu \u2002received his B.S. in Chemistry from Peking University in 1990, and received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Harvard University in 1995. He then completed his postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Yu began his independent research career in\u20021999 in Department of Pharmacology at University of Texas \u2002Southwestern Medical Center, and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2004 and to Professor in 2008. He was appointed Howard Hughes Medical\u2002Institute (HHMI) Investigator in 2008, and was elected Fellow of the\u2002American Association for the Advancement of Science\u2002(AAAS) in 2012. He was the holder of the Serena S. Simmons Distinguished Chair in Cancer Immunopharmacology before joining the faculty of Westlake University in December, 2019.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dr. Yu studies the cellular mechanisms that govern chromosome inheritance and\u2002integrity, focusing on understanding the spindle checkpoint and sister-chromatid cohesion\u2002-\u2002cellular systems and processes that ensure all chromosomes are properly segregated during cell division.\u2002Defects in these processes lead to genomic instability and aneuploidy, which can cause birth defects, premature aging, and tumorigenesis. Using a multidisciplinary approach, his laboratory has contributed significantly to the molecular understanding of chromosome segregation and genome maintenance. His research has \u2002highlighted a general principle in cell biology: exquisite spatiotemporal coordination of opposing activities and functionalities underlies cellular\u2002 transitions.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (1) The spindle checkpoint<\/p>\n The spindle checkpoint is an intracellular signaling network during mitosis that senses and responds to kinetochores not under bi-orientation and delays anaphase. Dr.\u2002Yu\u2019s\u2002research has established how unattached kinetochores recruit and activate checkpoint proteins and demonstrated that spatiotemporally regulated antagonism\u2002between checkpoint proteins and microtubules at kinetochores controls checkpoint\u2002\u2002signaling. Ongoing projects in the lab will further identify checkpoint sensors in human cells using genome-wide\u2002CRISPR-Cas9 screens, define physiological\u2002functions of spindle checkpoint proteins using mouse genetics, and study the\u2002cell-type plasticity of mitotic programs and consequences of chromosome \u2002missegregation using human embryonic stem cells.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n (2) Sister-chromatid cohesion<\/p>\n Cohesin is a ring-shaped ATPase device that dynamically entrapping chromosomes to promote chromosome folding and sister-chromatid cohesion. Human sister chromatids at\u2002metaphase are primarily linked by centromeric cohesion, forming the iconic X\u2002shape. Dr. Yu\u2019s research has elucidated the mechanisms by which cohesin is\u2002loaded onto and released from chromosomes during the cell cycle. His studies have demonstrated that a spatially constrained tug-of-war between opposing kinase and phosphatase activities maintains centromeric cohesion. His ongoing\u2002research aims to investigate the mechanism by which cohesion establishment is coupled to DNA replication through in vitro reconstitution, to determine the structures of cohesin alone or bound to its regulators and DNA using cryo-electron microscopy, and to dissect the in vivo functions of cohesin in development and tumor suppression using mouse genetics.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In summary, combining cell biological, biochemical, biophysical, and genetic methods, Dr. Yu\u2019s research program aims to understand genome stability at the organismal,\u2002cellular, molecular, and atomic levels. His research will deepen the molecular understanding of human diseases caused by genomic instability and lead to better strategies to treat them.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Representative \u2002Publications<\/p>\n 1.\u2002Ji, Z., Gao, H., and Yu, H. (2015) Kinetochore attachment sensed by competitive Mps1 and\u2002microtubule binding to Ndc80C.\u2002Science<\/strong>\u2002348, 1260-1264.<\/p>\n 2.\u2002Lin, Z., Luo, X., and Yu, H.\u2002(2016) Structural basis of cohesin cleavage by separase.\u2002Nature<\/strong>\u2002532, 131-134.<\/p>\n 3.\u2002Choi, E., Zhang, X., Xing, C. and Yu, H.\u2002(2016) Mitotic checkpoint regulators control insulin signaling and metabolic homeostasis.\u2002Cell<\/strong>\u2002166, 567-581.<\/p>\n 4.\u2002Zheng, G., Kanchwala, M., Xing, C. and Yu, H. (2018) MCM2-7-dependent cohesin loading during S phase promotes sister-chromatid cohesion.\u2002eLife<\/strong>\u20027, e33920.<\/p>\n 5.\u2002Choi, E., Kikuchi, S., Gao, H., Brodzik, K., Nassour, I., Yopp, A., Singal, A. G., Zhu, H., and Yu, H. (2019) Mitotic regulators and the SHP2-MAPK pathway promote IR endocytosis and feedback regulation of insulin signaling.\u2002Nat. Commun.<\/strong>\u200210, 1473.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":201,"template":"","team_category":[3],"class_list":["post-195","team","type-team","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","team_category-professor"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/yuhongtaolab.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/team\/195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/yuhongtaolab.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/team"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/yuhongtaolab.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/team"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yuhongtaolab.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/yuhongtaolab.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"team_category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yuhongtaolab.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/team_category?post=195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Research<\/h3>\n