Congratulations to Dr. Hua Lu and team. “Cyclic di-GMP suppresses cancer metastasis by targeting proteasome 26S subunit non-ATPase 3 independently of STING”. Signal Transduct Target Ther. 2026 Feb 4;11(1):44. doi: 10.1038/s41392-025-02553-9. PMID: 41633985; PMCID: PMC12868630.
Congratulations to Dr. Aiguo Tian, LCRC Seed Funding Award Total: $50,000 January 1st, 2026 - December 31st, 2026.
Congratulations to Dr. Hua Lu and team. “Liprin-α1 enhances PHLDB3 oncogenic function in colorectal cancer via activation of mTORC2-AKT1 pathway”. Cell Reports 45, 116722, January 27, 2026. Congratulations to Dr. Bo Ning, recipient of Tulane SOM Bridge Funding for the project entitled “Sensitive Detection of the Lyme disease Agent Using a Novel Lab-in-Tube System”.
Dr. Jia Fan Awarded $2.7M NIH U01 Grant
Dr. Jia Fan, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, has been awarded a five-year, $2.7 million U01 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The project, “Peptidome-Driven Algorithms for Faster and More Precise Mycobacterial Detection,” aims to advance diagnostic approaches for mycobacterial infections.
Tulane’s Tony Hu awarded one of nation’s highest honors in clinical diagnostics (from Tulane News)
New Method Speeds Up Detection of Elusive Lung Infections (Dr. Jia Fan)
Congratulations to Dr. Jia Fan and Team. Bao D, Maity S, Zhan L, Seo S, Shu Q, Lyon CJ, Ning B, Zelazny A, Hu TY, Fan J. Precise mycobacterial species and subspecies identification using the PEP-TORCH peptidome algorithm. EMBO Mol Med. 2025 Mar 4. doi: 10.1038/s44321-025-00207-5. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40038396.
Congratulations to Dr. Wu-Min Deng, Professor in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Gerald & Flora Jo Mansfield Piltz Endowed Professor in Cancer Research, Tulane Cancer Center Member - Cancer Biology Research Program, is one of this year’s AAAS Honors Accomplished Scientists as a 2025 Elected Fellow. The American Association for the Advancement of Science bestows upon members the lifetime honor of being an elected Fellow in recognition of their extraordinary achievements in advancing science. The Fellows Forum will be held in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, June 7th, 2025.
Congratulations to Tony Hu and Team. Julian G. Saliba, Wenshu Zheng, Qingbo Shu, Liqiang Li,Chi Wu, Yi Xie, Christopher J. Lyon, Jiuxin Qu, Hairong Huang, Binwu Ying, and Tony Ye Hu.“Enhanced diagnosis of multi-drug-resistantmicrobes using group association modeling and machine learning”.
Congratulations to Dr. Hua Lu, a recipient of the 2025 Ladies Leukemia League Grant, to fund the research project, “Role of Malfunctional RBM10-c-Myc Pathway in Hematopoietic Malignancies,” to be awarded Thursday, April 24th, 2025.
New Textbook, Dr. David Franklin
Emine E. Abali , Susan D. Cline , David S. Franklin , Susan M. Viselli Ph.D. Lippincott Illustrated Reviews: Biochemistry, February 25th, 2025.
A bestselling title in this highly regarded review series, Lippincott® Illustrated Reviews: Biochemistry is the go-to resource for both faculty and students for mastering the essentials of biochemistry. The fully revised 9th Edition helps students quickly review, assimilate, and integrate large amounts of critical and complex information, with unparalleled illustrations that bring concepts to life. An intuitive outline organization, chapter summaries, and review questions that link basic science to real-life clinical situations work together to clarify challenging information and strengthen retention and understanding, while an emphasis on clinical application, updated review tools, and accompanying digital resources prepare students for success on course and board exams and beyond.
Congratulations to Dr. Hua Lu and Team. Tan Z, Ko HM, Naji P, Zhu R, Wang J, Huang S, Zhang Y, Zeng SX, Lu H. Tripartite motif-containing protein 26 promotes colorectal cancer growth by inactivating p53. Cell Death Differ. 2025 Feb 24. doi: 10.1038/s41418-025-01463-1. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39994352.
Abstract
Tripartite motif-containing protein 26 (TRIM26) is an E3 ubiquitin ligase that exhibits divergent roles in various cancer types (oncogenic and anti-oncogenic). This study investigates the interaction of TRIM26 with the tumor suppressor protein p53 in colorectal cancer (CRC) cells by performing a comprehensive set of biochemical, cell-based assays, and xenograft experiments. As a result, we found that overexpression of TRIM26 significantly enhances CRC cell proliferation and colony formation, while knockdown of TRIM26 suppresses these processes. Xenograft experiments further validated the tumor-promoting role of TRIM26 in CRC. Supporting this is that TRIM26 is highly expressed in human CRC tissues as revealed by our analysis of the TCGA database. Biochemically, TRIM26 directly bound to the C-terminus of p53 and facilitated its ubiquitination, resulting in proteolytic degradation and attenuated p53 activity independently of MDM2. Also, TRIM26 increased the MDM2-mediated ubiquitination of p53 by binding to MDM2's C-terminus. This study uncovers the oncogenic potential of TRIM26 in CRC by inhibiting p53 function. Through its ubiquitin ligase activity, TRIM26 destabilizes p53, consequently promoting CRC cell proliferation and tumor growth. These findings shed light on the complex involvement of TRIM26 in cancer and identify this ubiquitin ligase as a potential therapeutic target for future development of CRC treatment.
SAVE THE DATE! The 23rd Annual George Adrouny Memorial Lectureship, Friday, April 11th, 2025, keynote speaker Dr. Tony Hu.
Congratulations to Tony Hu, recipient of the Entrepreneurship Award! Presented at the Tulane 2024 Achievement Awards, Ritz Carlton, November 1st. This award is given to the individual faculty member whose contribution to entrepreneurship is reflected in a record of sustained entrepreneurship and new venture creation.
Wu-Min Deng, PhD, awarded $1.7 Million NCI R01 Grant
Congratulations to Tulane Cancer Center Member and Professor of Structural & Cellular Biology Wu-Min Deng, PhD, on receiving a 5-year, $1.7 million National Cancer Institute R01 Grant - Polyploidy and Sex Dimorphism in a Drosophila Tumor Model.
Congratulations to Dr. William Wimley and Team. Ferrie, R.P., Fuselier, T., and Wimley, W.C. (2024) Cytosolic Delivery of Bioactive Cyclic Peptide Cargo by Spontaneous Membrane Translocating Peptides. ACS Omega
From Tulane News: Tulane to launch science communication program to help tackle global issues
Congratulations to Dr. Tony Hu, elected to the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineers (IAMBE), class of 2024.
A New Paper from Dr. William Wimley:
Structural Determinants of Peptide Nanopore Formation
A New Paper from Dr. Hong Liu:
Topolsomerase I is an evolutionarily conserved key regulator for DNA transcription
- Dr. Wu-Min Deng, recipient of an LCRC Seed Grant Proposal, June 1st, 2024-May 31st, 2025.
- Dr. Hee-Won Park, recipient of a Carol Lavin Bernick Faculty Grant, 2024-2025.
- Dr Yiwei Zhang, recipient of a Carol Lavin Bernick Faculty Grant, 2024-2025.
- Dr Xianfeng Wang, recipient of a Carol Lavin Bernick Faculty Grant, 2024-2025
- Dr. Hong Liu, recipient of a Carol Lavin Bernick Faculty Grant, 2024-2025
Congratulations to Dr. Wu-Min Deng, a recipient of a 2024 Ladies Leukemia League Grant, to fund the research project, “Targeting NKCC Dysregulation: A Therapeutic Approach for Ascites Management in Leukemia Patients,” to be awarded April 2024.
From Tulane News - Infections from these bacteria are on the rise. New blood test cuts diagnosis time from months to hours (featuring Dr. Bo Ning)
Tulane Receives $1.6 Million to Develop Nanoscale Drug Delivery
Creating holes in a cell is usually a bad thing, but researchers at Tulane have received a grant to study how they might create controlled nanopores as small as a molecule to deliver targeted medicine into cells.
Bill Wimley, the George A. Adrouny, PhD Professor in Biochemistry in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the Tulane School of Medicine, has been awarded a grant of $1.6 million from the National Institute of General Medical Studies to study nanopore technology.
This research uses a compound derived from melittin, a main component of honeybee venom, to make small pores in membranes. These pores are on the nanometer scale, hence the name “nanopores.”
“This peptide, melittin, it permeabilizes membranes and causes nonspecific damage to cells that way,” said Wimley, “so we took melittin and evolved it over multiple generations into peptides that are controllable, more useful and less toxic.”
These evolved peptides, which are short chains of amino acids, are not controlled by a remote or any electronics but by the pH, or acidity, of their environment. One family of these nanopore-forming peptides is triggered by an acidic environment.
“They are designed not to affect cells under normal conditions,” Wimley said.
They are triggered when endosomes, which take up material from the outside of cells, mature and acidify. It is only in that acidic environment that the peptides form nanopores in the cell membrane.
Nanopores allow for macromolecules, molecules too large to move through cell membranes under normal circumstances, to have a way into cells. This research could lead to breakthroughs in medicine delivery. This current grant, however, is looking at the more basic structural level of understanding of the technology. As Wimley put it, “What drives these very unusual nanopores to form in membranes?”
In order to learn more about these nanopores, Wimley and his team will start with computer simulations of their evolved peptides, then they will move toward laboratory testing in order to see what makes the peptides behave the way they do. Once they understand that, then more research can be done into potential life-saving applications.
The patent for this nanopore technology is shared between Tulane and Johns Hopkins University. Wimley will be working on this research with an international team that includes researchers in Romania and at Johns Hopkins.
SAVE THE DATE 2024 George Adrouny Memorial Lecture
Tuesday, April 23rd
The 2024 featured speaker is Lila M. Gierasch, PhD, Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Chemistry at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Dr. Gierasch is a biophysical chemist recognized for her work on protein folding, with particular emphasis on in vivo folding and roles of molecular chaperones. Born in Massachusetts, Gierasch graduated from Mount Holyoke College in 1970 with a degree in chemistry and obtained her Ph.D. in Biophysics from Harvard University in 1975. She held faculty positions at Amherst College, the University of Delaware, and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School prior to joining the University of Massachusetts Amherst where she is currently Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Chemistry. In 2006, she received a NIH Director's Pioneer Award. Among her other honors are Sloan and Guggenheim Fellowships, the Vincent du Vigneaud and Merrifield Awards of the American Peptide Society, a D.Sc. Honoris Causa from Mount Holyoke College, the Garvan-Olin Medal and Ralph Hirschmann Award of the American Chemical Society, the Dorothy Hodgkin Award of the Protein Society, and the Mildred Cohn Award of the American Society of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. Gierasch is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, a past President and a Fellow of the Biophysical Society, and a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.
The Gierasch's Laboratory has made fundamental contributions to the relationship between amino acid sequence and the preferred conformations of peptides and proteins. Her work shed light on turn propensities in proteins and offered a basis for design of analogues of bioactive peptides. Her lab has addressed protein folding in cells, developing tools to study the fate of newly synthesized proteins, including their proper folding and cellular localization. Her lab elucidated conformational propensities and physical properties of signal sequences, which helps to explain how diverse sequences can target a polypeptide chain to the secretory pathway. Gierasch and coworkers were involved in studies that demonstrated the roles of molecular chaperones, a network of species that protect incompletely folded proteins in the cell from aggregation and misfolding. Her lab described how molecular chaperones recognize 'unfoldedness' in their protein substrates, showing that chaperonins like GroEL exploit hydrophobic surfaces to recognize substrates, while Hsp70s bind polypeptides as extended chains. Recently, Lila Gierasch's laboratory has unraveled the allosteric mechanism of Hsp70 chaperones, which are central hubs in protein homeostasis and quality control. The work of her laboratory provides insights into the pathologies that arise from mistakes in protein folding, such as the neurodegenerative diseases.
Additional details may be requested from Kelly Ragland Boyd at kraglan@tulane.edu.
Congratulations to Tania Antoshchenko and Welcome to Alexa Dow Sturtz in the SIF!
After 11 years in the department, with the last 5 years serving as the Shared Instrumentation Facility (SIF) Manager, Tania Antoshchenko has embarked on a new professional journey as the Assistant Director of OEHS. We express our deepest gratitude to Tania for her unwavering dedication, leadership, and the countless contributions she has made to our department. We wish her the very best in her new role.
On the flipside, we are pleased to announce that Tania's successor is a familiar face to many of us – Alexa Dow Sturtz. Alexa is no stranger to our department, having graduated from our Master’s Program in 2018. Over the past 5 years, she has been an integral part of Dr. Heather Machado’s lab. We are glad to welcome Alexa as she steps into the role of SIF Manager. Her experience, knowledge, and familiarity with our department will contribute to the continued success of the SIF. Alexa is a Louisiana native, having grown up in Baton Rouge. She moved to New Orleans in 2018 after completing her master’s degree. Shortly thereafter, she met her husband, Joseph, a two-time Tulane alum. They were married in May 2022 and welcomed their son, Andersen, in March of 2023. When not in the SIF, you can find Alexa cheering on the Green Wave football team or organizing community events both at Tulane and in the greater New Orleans area. She is an active member of the Junior League of New Orleans, President-Elect of the Tulane University Women’s Association, and a dedicated Room Parent and parishioner of St. Louis King of France in Bucktown.
To contact Alexa on matters related to the Shared Instrumentation Facility, please contact her at 504.988-7165 or biosif@tulane.edu for assistance.