Pengxiang Huang, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor & CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research
Positions
- Assistant Professor & CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research
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Molecular and Cellular Biology
Baylor College 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
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Huang P, Zheng S, Wierbowski BM, Kim Y, Nedelcu D, Aravena L, Liu J, Kruse AC, Salic A.. " Structural Basis of Smoothened Activation in Hedgehog Signaling " Cell. 2018 Jul 12; 174 (2) : 312-324.
Pubmed PMID: 29804838. -
Huang P, Nedelcu D, Watanabe M, Jao C, Kim Y, Liu J, Salic A.. " Cellular Cholesterol Directly Activates Smoothened in Hedgehog Signaling " Cell. 2016 Aug 25; 166 (5) : 1176-1187.
Pubmed PMID: 27545348. -
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.. " Identification of natural RORγ ligands that regulate the development of lymphoid cells " Cell Metab. 2015 Feb 3; 21 (2) : 286-298.
Pubmed PMID: 25651181. -
Chandra V, Huang P, Potluri N, Wu D, Kim Y, Rastinejad F.. " Multidomain integration in the structure of the HNF-4α nuclear receptor complex " Nature. 2013 Mar 21; 495 (7441) : 394-398.
Pubmed PMID: 23485969.
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