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Pengxiang Huang

Huang

Pengxiang Huang, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor & CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research

Email

pengxiang.huang@bcm.edu

Positions

Assistant Professor & CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research
Molecular and Cellular Biology
ÌÇÐÄvlogÃÛÌÒ of Medicine
Houston, Texas, US

Education

PhD from University of Virginia
12/2009 - Charlottesville, Virginia, United States
BS from Tsinghua University
07/2002 - Beijing, China

Honors & Awards

CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research
Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) (08/2020 - 08/2025)

Professional Interests

  • Hedgehog signaling, Wnt signaling, Lipids, Biochemistry, Cell biology, Chemical biology, Structural biology

Professional Statement

My research is focused on elucidating the mechanisms of signal transduction in the Hedgehog and Wnt pathways, which are fundamental for embryonic development, adult stem cell maintenance and in many human cancers. I have been broadly trained in cell signaling, biochemistry, chemical and structural biology, including both X-ray crystallography and Cryo-EM. By combining these multidisciplinary approaches, I identified cholesterol as the endogenous activator for Smoothened (SMO), the key signal transducer and oncoprotein in the Hedgehog pathway (Cell. 166:1176-87). I also determined the crystal structures of sterol-bound SMO, demonstrating for the first time the active conformation of a class F GPCR (Cell. 174:312-24). This work together builds the foundation for our current studies aimed at dissecting Hedgehog signaling through SMO, and to expand the scope of our research to study signal transduction in the related Wnt pathway by employing similar strategies. Our long-term goal to leverage this information to devise novel and better therapeutics for cancers associated with these two pathways.

Websites

Selected Publications

  • Huang P, Zheng S, Wierbowski BM, Kim Y, Nedelcu D, Aravena L, Liu J, Kruse AC, Salic A.. " " Cell. 2018 Jul 12; 174 (2) : 312-324.
    Pubmed PMID: .
  • Huang P, Nedelcu D, Watanabe M, Jao C, Kim Y, Liu J, Salic A.. " " Cell. 2016 Aug 25; 166 (5) : 1176-1187.
    Pubmed PMID: .
  • Santori FR, Huang P, van de Pavert SA, Douglass EF Jr., Leaver DJ, Haubrich BA, Keber R, Lorbek G, Konijn T, Rosales BN, Rozman D, Horvat S, Rahier A, Mebius RE, Rastinejad F, Nes WD, Littman DR.. " " Cell Metab. 2015 Feb 3; 21 (2) : 286-298.
    Pubmed PMID: .
  • Chandra V, Huang P, Potluri N, Wu D, Kim Y, Rastinejad F.. " " Nature. 2013 Mar 21; 495 (7441) : 394-398.
    Pubmed PMID: .

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