Faculty Appointment

UHCOP Welcomes Cancer Researcher Yi Du to Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences Department

November 17 — UH College of Pharmacy recently welcomed Yi Du, Ph.D., as a research assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Du completed his B.S. at Sichuan University in China and earned his Ph.D. in cancer biology at the Graduate School of Biomedical Science at University of Texas Health Science Center and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Du’s previous research activities focused on investigation of mechanisms of tumorigenesis and drug resistance and development of mechanism-driven therapeutic strategies. Most recently, Du worked at the UT Health Science Center in San Antonio, where his research focused on the mechanism by which DNA damage response and reprogramming of senescent cancer cells during cancer recurrence.

Du has published more than two dozen peer-reviewed articles as first author or co-author in such journals as Nature Medicine, Oncogene, Cancer Research, Nature, Molecular Cell, Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, Clinical Cancer Research, The Journal of Biological Chemistry, Gastroenterology and National Science Review, as well as a chapter titled "Nuclear functions of receptor tyrosine kinases" in the book, "Receptor Tyrosine Kinases: Structure, Functions and Role in Human Disease."

In addition, based on his first author publication at Nature Medicine at 2016, Du is co-inventor of a U.S. patent for "Prediction of response to parp inhibitors and combinational therapy targeting c-met and parp1," which involves methods for identifying and treating PARP inhibitor-resistant cancers with combinations of PARP and c-Met inhibitors.

His previous honors include MD Anderson’s "Outstanding Research Publication" award and the Harold C. and Mary L. Daily Endowment Fund Fellowship award, both in 2016, and a travel award from Graduate School of Biomedical Science in 2012.