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College of Pharmacy

College of Pharmacy

Faculty Profile

mingfu-wu-new.jpgMingfu Wu

Associate Professor of Pharmacology
Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Office: 
University of Houston College of Pharmacy
Health 2, Room 5014
4349 Martin Luther King Boulevard
Houston, TX 77204-5037

Contact: mwu25@central.uh.edu - 713-743-9880

Research:

1. My lab aims to determine the etiology and then the treatment for the left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy. 2. Another project will determine how epicardial development regulates cardiac morphogenesis and explore methods to treat congenital heart defects caused by abnormal epicardial development. 3. We are also screening chemicals that promote cardiomyocyte maturation during cell-reprogramming and cardiomyocyte proliferation during cardiac regeneration.

  • Postoc 2007-2010, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas
  • Postdoc 2006-2007, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
  • Ph.D. in Biology, 2005, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas

Google Scholar Profile
  • Lianjie Miao, Yangyang Lu, Anika Nusrat, Hala Y. Abdelnasser, Sayantap Datta, Bin Zhou, Robert J. Schwartz and Mingfu Wu*. The Spatiotemporal Expression of Notch1 and Numb and Their Functional Interaction during Cardiac Morphogenesis. Cells. 2021 Aug 25;10(9):2192. doi: 10.3390/cells10092192. PMID: 34571841
  • Liu YX, Xue B, Sun WY, Wingfield JL, Sun J, Wu M, Lechtreck KF, Wu Z, Fan ZC. Bardet-Biedl Syndrome 3 protein promotes ciliary exit of the signaling protein phospholipase D via the BBSome. Elife. 2021 Feb 15;10. doi: 10.7554/eLife.59119. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 33587040.
  • Li Y, Lv Z, Zhang S, Wang Z, He L, Tang M, Pu W, Zhao H, Zhang Z, Shi Q, Cai D, Wu M, Hu G, Lui KO, Feng J, Nieto MA, Zhou B. Genetic Fate Mapping of Transient Cell Fate Reveals N-Cadherin Activity and Function in Tumor Metastasis. Dev Cell. 2020 Sep 14;54(5):593-607.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2020.06.021. Epub 2020 Jul 14. PubMed PMID: 32668208
  • Xue B, Liu YX, Dong B, Wingfield JL, Wu M, Sun J, Lechtreck KF, Fan ZC. Intraflagellar transport protein RABL5/IFT22 recruits the BBSome to the basal body through the GTPase ARL6/BBS3. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.2020 Feb 4;117(5):2496-2505. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1901665117. Epub 2020 Jan 17. PubMed PMID: 31953262; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7007519.
  • Lianjie Miao&, Jingjing Li&, Jian Li, Yangyang Lu, David Shieh, Joseph E. Mazurkiewicz, Margarida Barroso, John J. Schwarz, Hongbo Xin, Harold A. Singer, Peter Vincent, Weimin Zhong, Glenn L. Radice, Leo Q Wan, Zhen-Chuan Fan, Guoying Huang, and Mingfu Wu*. Cardiomyocyte orientation modulated by the Numb Family Proteins-N-Cadherin axis is essential for ventricular wall morphogenesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 Jul 30;116(31):15560-15569. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1904684116. Epub 2019 Jul 12. PubMed PMID: 31300538.
  • Ray P, Chin AS, Worley KE, Fan J, Kaur G, Wu M, Wan LQ. Intrinsic cellular chirality regulates left-right symmetry breaking during cardiac looping. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018 Dec 11;115(50):E11568-E11577. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1808052115. Epub 2018 Nov 20. PubMed PMID: 30459275; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6294912.
  • M. Wu. Mechanisms of Trabecular Formation and Specification During Cardiogenesis. Pediatric Cardiology, 2018, 2018 Mar 28. doi: 10.1007/s00246-018-1868-x (Invited Review).
  • Lianjie Miao, Jingjing Li, Jun Li, Xueying Tian, Yangyang Lu, Saiyang Hu, David Shieh, Ryan Kanai, Bo-yang Zhou, Bin Zhou, Jiandong Liu, Anthony B. Firulli, James F. Martin, Harold Singer, Bin Zhou, Hongbo Xin* & Mingfu Wu* Notch signaling regulates Hey2 expression in a spatiotemporal dependent manner during cardiac morphogenesis and trabecular specification. Scientific Reports. 2018 Feb 8;8(1):2678. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-20917-w.
  • #Jingjing Li, #Lianjie Miao, Chen Zhao, Wasay Mohiuddin Shaikh Qureshi, David Shieh, Hua Guo, Yangyang Lu, Saiyang Hu, Alice Huang, Lu Zhang, Chen-leng Cai, Leo Q Wan, Peter Vincent, Harold A. Singer, Yi Zheng, Ondine Cleaver, Zhen-Chuan Fan and Mingfu Wu*. CDC42 is required for epicardial and pro-epicardial development by mediating FGF receptor trafficking to plasma membrane. Development (2017) 144, 1635-1647 doi:10.1242/dev.147173
    This paper was featured: CDC42 shapes up the epicardium http://dev.biologists.org/content/144/9/e0902
  • Jinjing Zhao*, Wen Wu*, Wei Zhang, Emiley Tou, Jiemei Ye, Ping Gao, David Jourd'heuil, Harold A. Singer, Mingfu Wu and Xiaochun Long. TSPAN2 is a novel transmembrane protein closely associated with vascular smooth muscle contractile phenotype and is regulated by the TGFβ1/SMAD and MYOCD/SRF pathways. FESB J. 2017. Jun;31(6):2576-2591.
  • Jingjing Li, Lianjie Miao, David Shieh, Ernest Spiotto, Jian Li, Bin Zhou, Antoni Paul, Robert J. Schwartz, Anthony B. Firulli, Harold A. Singer, Guoying Huang and Mingfu Wu*. Single cell lineage tracing reveals that oriented cell division contributes to trabecular morphogenesis and trabecular regional specification. Cell Reports 15, 1-13 (2016)
    The papers above are introduced by The Scientist: http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/47495/title/How-to-Track-Cell-Lineages-As-They-Develop/
  • Zhao C, Guo H, Li J, Myint T, Pittman W, Yang L, Zhong W, Schwartz RJ, Schwarz JJ, Singer HA, Tallquist MD, and Wu M*. Numb family proteins are essential for cardiac morphogenesis and progenitor differentiation. Development. 2014 Jan;141(2):281-95.
  • Wang Y, Hu G, Liu F, Wang X, Wu M, Schwarz JJ, Zhou J. Deletion of YAP Specifically in Cardiac and Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells Reveals a Crucial Role for YAP in Mouse Cardiovascular Development. Circ Res. 2014 Jan 29
  • M. Wu, Christopher L. Smith, James A. Hall, Ivy Lee, Kate luby-Phelps, and M. Tallquist. Epicardial spindle orientation controls cell entry into the myocardium. Developmental Cell, 19(1):114-25 (2010)
  • M. Wu, H. Kwon, F. Rattis, J. Blum, C. Zhao, R. Ashkenazi, T.L. Jackson, N. Gaiano, T. Oliver and T. Reya. Imaging hematopoietic precursor division in real time. Cell Stem Cell. 1: 541-554 (2007).

Awards & Honors

Research Support

  • 2R01HL121700-06A1 (PI, WU) 6/01/2020 - 5/31/2025
    Signaling by β1 integrins regulates ventricular wall morphogenesis and compaction
    This project will determine how β1 integrins mediated ventricular contraction regulates trabecular formation and ventricular compaction.
  • 20TPA35490051 (PI, Wu) American Heart Association (1/1/2021-12/31/2023)
    Integrin alpha 6 regulates trabecular specification and trabecular compaction
    The major goals of this project are to determine how the trabecular zone is specified, how integrin alpha 6 is involved in the trabecular specification and compaction, and what are the downstream targets of integrin alpha 6 during the trabecular specification and compaction.
  • 1 R01 HL148104-01A1 (PI: Wan) (CO-I: Wu) NIH/NHLBI/NICH 5/1/2021 – 4/30/2025
    Understanding Cardiac C-Looping Using Microscale In Vitro Models
    The major goals of this project are to define the role of protein kinase C in determining cell chirality and to reveal biomechanical and biomolecular mechanism of cardiac asymmetric looping with engineering tools and animal models

Awards & Honors

  • R01 NIH Young Investigator Award - Nov. 2014- Nov. 2019
  • AHA SDG award - 2013-2017
  • Travel Awards for Weinstein Conference - 2013
  • AHA postdoctoral fellowship - 2009-2010
  • Travel awards from SDB annual meeting - 2010/li>
  • Star Postdoctoral Fellow at UTSW -2009
  • Travel awards from UTSW