Dr. Yuhui Hu has a long-standing interest and experience in Functional Genomics, Chemical Biology, and Chinese Medicine (CM). She has particular interest in combining her expertise in both systems biology (genomics, metabolomics, proteomics) and CM theories for the research-driven development of new drugs that are originated from CM natural compounds.

She has for the first time established a series of high-throughput platforms, such as Connectivity Map of natural compounds and Transfected Cell Microarrays, for studying the functional mechanism of CM systematically, and in the meantime allowing for efficient assessment of therapeutic efficacies of CM-derived new drug candidates. The research achievement includes, for example, the first report on the genome-wide gene regulatory effects of Ginsenosides. She has identified a few CM compounds with potent anti-cancer and neural protection effects, and is currently applying these into targeted cancer therapy (Precision Medicine).

RESEARCH INTERESTS

The research focus of her lab is mainly based on systems biology approaches, in particular, the functional genomic tools that cover the fields of transcriptome, genome/epigenome, gene editing, and proteome. On top of these research platforms, we applied chemical agents (including natural compounds and synthetic drugs) in order to decipher the molecular targets and underlying mechanism (effectiveness, resistance, and toxicity) of the compounds/drugs, and for a long-term goal, hope to facilitate the new drug development for different diseases.

• Systems Biology-based research of the function of CM-derived compounds and the underlying molecular mechanisms.
• Linking Chemical Biology to Cell biology: Compound-induced metabolic stress & epigenetic changes leading to a new type of DNA damage & repair.
• Cancer genomics & chemical genomics for early diagnosis, therapy, & prognosis.
• Pre-clinical study of CM-compounds for new drug development.

RESEARCH PROGRESS

Her lab focuses on integrating diverse systems biology approaches (transcriptome, genome/epigenome, gene editing, and proteome) and chemical syntheses to decipher the molecular targets/mechanism of drug candidates, in particular, those bioactive compounds originated from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). As a pioneer in this field, They carried out several projects including, but not limited to: 1) the first establishment of transcriptome-based functional network of TCM, namely MecoTCM; 2) the first report of complex and genomic regulatory effects of Ginsenosides; 3) the investigation of genome instability for risk assessment of carcinogenesis of TCM compounds; 4) the construction of genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing systems for target identification of TCM compounds; 5) the utilization of chemical proteomics approaches for direct target identification of TCM compounds. For the compounds with newly identified bioactivity, several patents had been or are about to be submitted.

All the research platforms They established are not limited to the application on TCM compounds, but also applicable to any drug candidate and even existing drugs for further mechanistic study. For example, They have applied CRISPR systems for investigating the novel therapeutic and resistant mechanism of several anti-cancer drugs such as Sorafenib.