Yali Dou
University of Southern California, CA·Biochemistry
DNA inside cells is wrapped around proteins called histones, and chemical tags added to those histones help decide which genes are switched on. The enzymes that write these tags are frequently broken in human disease, and cancer is a prime example.
- Fields
Biochemistry
Genetics
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
histone methyltransferase
H3K4 methylation
chromatin modifying enzymes
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jan 2029
What they work on
- Define how the histone H3 K4 methyltransferase MLL1 (KMT2A) promotes cancer development through its canonical, transcription-dependent activity within its multi-subunit complex shared with other KMT2 family enzymes.
- Characterize the non-canonical, transcription-independent functions of MLL1 in regulating cellular processes, and determine how these contribute to tumorigenesis.
- Evaluate MLL1 as a therapeutic target in hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common liver cancer, using multidisciplinary mechanistic approaches.
More about the research
One of them, MLL1 (also called KMT2A), adds methyl groups to a specific spot on histone H3 known as K4. When one copy of the MLL1 gene is rearranged, it produces a fusion protein that drives acute leukemia in children. But MLL1 is also amplified or overexpressed in many other cancers, and why that matters is unknown. This project asks how MLL1 contributes to cancer and whether it can be targeted therapeutically.
Why it matters
MLL1 is altered in cancers in opposite directions — both inactivating mutations and extra gene copies — which makes it hard to know how to drug it. Clarifying its separate transcription-dependent and transcription-independent roles in tumor growth could reveal which patients might benefit from blocking it and point toward new treatment strategies, with liver cancer as the initial test case.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
G Greg Wang
Duke University, NC·Biochemistry
Characterize how the previously unstudied intrinsically disordered region of the RNA-binding protein MSI2 drives liquid-liquid phase separation, using purified proteins in vitro and in living cells.
Songtao Jia
Columbia University, NY·Genetics
Determine how ubiquitylation of histone H3 at lysine 14 (H3K14ub) stimulates the H3K9 methyltransferase enzymes that create heterochromatin's key silencing mark in fission yeast.
Emily Dykhuizen
Purdue University, IN·Biochemistry
Develop CBX8 chromodomain inhibitors with improved cell permeability by selecting focused DNA-encoded libraries — small-molecule collections barcoded with DNA — designed for cellular activity rather than binding affinity alone.
The school
University of Southern California: 47 labs on PI Pages, $1.3B a year on research, 882 research doctorates a year.
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