Biography
Guan kunliang (1963-), zhengjiang Tongxiang, biochemist and cell biologist, Westlake University College of Life Sciences chair professor, Ph.D. mentor. 1982 B.S. Hangzhou University; 1989 Ph.D. Purdue University; 1989-1991 Postdoc, Purdue University; 1992-2007 Faculty, University of Michigan (assistant 1992; associate 1996; professor 2000; H Christensen Professor 2003); 2007-2023 professor, University of California San Diego.
History
2011
The Ray Wu Prize
2011
AAAS Fellow (The American Association for the Advancement of Science)
1999
Young Investigator Award, ASBMB (American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)
1998
MacArthur Fellow
Research
Dr. Kunliang Guan has been studying signal transduction in cell growth regulation and tumorigenesis for over thirty years. As a postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Guan discovered the dual specific protein phosphatase family and a novel thio-phosphate intermediate in biocatalysis. Early works from his laboratory led to the cloning of human MEK1/2 and elucidation of the mechanism of MEK activation. Over the last twenty years, Guan team have been studying mTOR and Hippo pathways. Dr. Kunliang Guan’s group has made major contributions to the establishment of the mTORC1 signaling network, including identification of TSC1/2-Rheb, Rag, and AMPK as mTORC1 upstream regulators in response to growth factor, nutrient, and energy, respectively, as well as elucidation of ULK1 and VPS34 as downstream effectors of mTORC1 in autophagy. As such Dr. Guan is the second most cited investigator in the mTOR field. Recently, Dr. Guan’s group has been focusing on the Hippo pathway and its role in cancer. The group has been playing a leading role in advancing the Hippo field as Dr. Guan is the most cited investigator in the Hippo field. Dr. Kunliang Guan have co-authored over 300 research papers and I am one of the most highly cited researchers in molecular biology and genetics (Citations over 130k, H-index 168, Google Scholar). Lab’s future research will focus on molecular mechanisms of cellular regulation, upstream signals, physiological functions, and its role in cancer.
Representative Publications
1. Inoki, K., Zhu, T., and Guan, K-L. (2003) TSC2 mediates cellular energy response to control cell growth and survival. Cell 115, 577-590.
2. Inoki, K., Ouyang, H., Zhu, T., et al, Williams, B., and Guan, K-L. (2006) TSC2 integrates Wnt and cellular energy signals through a coordinated phosphorylation by AMPK and GSK3 to regulate cell growth. Cell 126, 955-68.
3. Kim, E., Goraksha, P., Li, L., Neufeld, T.P., and Guan, K-L. (2008) Regulation of TORC1 by Rag GTPases in nutrient response. Nature Cell Biol. 10, 935-945.
4. Zhao, S., Xu, W., Jiang, W., et al, Q., Xiong, Y., Guan, K-L., (2010) Regulation of cellular metabolism by protein lysine acetylation. Science 327, 1000-1004.
5. Kim, J., Kundu, M., Viollet, B., and Guan, K-L., (2011) AMPK and mTOR regulate autophagy via direct phosphorylation of ULK1. Nature Cell Biol. 13, 132-141.
6. Yu, F-X., Zhao, B., Panupinthu, N., Jewell, J. L., Wang, L., Zhao, J., Yan, H., Tumaneng, K., Li, H., Fu, X-D., Mills, G. B., and Guan, K-L. (2012) Regulation of the Hippo-YAP pathway by G-protein coupled receptor signaling. Cell 150, 780-91.
7. Russell, R.C., Tian, Y., Yuan, H., Park, H.W., Chang, Y.Y., Kim, J., Jim, H., Neufeld, T., Dillin, A., Guan, K-L. (2013) ULK1 induces autophagy by phosphorylating Beclin-1 and activating Vps34 lipid kinase. Nature Cell Biol. 15, 741-50.
8. Zhao, D., Zou, S-W., Liu, Y., Zou, X., Mo, Y., Wang, P., Xu, Y-H., Dong, B., Xiong, Y., Lei, Q-Y., and Guan, K-L. (2013) Lysine-5 acetylation negatively regulates lactate dehydrogenase A and is decreased in pancreatic cancer. Cancer Cell, 23, 464-476.
9. Kim, J., Kim, Y.C., Fang, C., Russell, R.C., Kim, J.H., Fan, W., Liu, R., Zhong, Q., and Guan, K-L. (2013) Differential regulation of distinct Vps34 complexes by AMPK in nutrient stress and autophagy. Cell 152, 290-303.
10. Yu, F.X., Luo, J., Mo, J-S., Liu, G., Kim, Y.C., Meng, Z., Zhao, L., Peyman, G., Ouyang, H., Jiang, W., Zhao, J., Chen, X., Zhang, L., Bastian, B.C., Zhang, K. and Guan, K-L. (2014) Mutant Gq/11 promote uveal melanoma tumorigenesis by activating YAP. Cancer Cell 25, 822-830.
11. Jewell, J.L., Kim, Y.C., Russell, R.C., Yu, F.X., Park, H.W., Plouffe, S.W., Tagliabracci, V.S., and Guan, K-L. (2015) Differential Regulation of mTORC1 by Leucine and Glutamine. Science 347, 194-198.
12. Yu, F.X., Zhao, B., and Guan, K-L. (2015) Hippo pathway in organ size control, tissue homeostasis, and cancer. Cell 163, 811-828.
13. Park, H. W., Kim, Y.C., Yu, B., Moroishi, T., Mo, J-S., Plouffe, S.W., Meng, Z., Lin, K.C., Yu, F.X., Alexander, C.M., Wang, C., and Guan, K-L. (2015) Alternative Wnt Signaling Activates YAP/TAZ. Cell 162, 780-794.
14. Moroishi, T., Hayashi, T., Pan, W.W., Fujita, Y., Holt, M.V., Qin, J., Carson, D.A., and Guan, K-L. (2016) The Hippo pathway kinase LATS1/2 suppress cancer immunity. Cell 167, 1525-39.
15. Lin, K.C., Moroishi, T., Meng, Z., Jeong, H., Plouffe, S.W., Sekido, Y., Han, J., Park, H.W., Guan, K-L. (2017). Regulation of Hippo pathway transcription factor TEAD by p38 MAPK-induced cytoplasmic translocation. Nature Cell Biol. 19, 996-1002.
16. Meng, Z., Qiu, Y., Lin, K.C., Kumar, A., Placone, J.K., Fang, C., Wang, K-C., Lu, S., Hong, A.W., Pan, M., Moroishi, T., Luo, M., Plouffe, S.W., Diao, Y., Ye, Z., Park, H.W., Wang, X., Yu, F-X., Chien, S., Wang, C-Y., Ren, B., Engler, A.J., and Guan, K-L. (2018) RAP2 mediates mechno-responses of Hippo pathway. Nature 560, 655-660.
17. Chen, R., Xie, R., Meng, Z., Ma, S., Guan, K-L. (2019). STRIPAK integrates upstream signals to initiate the Hippo kinase cascade. Nature Cell Biol. 21, 1565-1577.
18. Luo, M., Meng, Z., Moroishi, T., Lin, K.C., Shen, G., Mo, F., Shao, B., Wei, X., Zhang, P., Wei, Y., Guan, K-L. (2020) Heat stress activates YAP/TAZ to induce the heat shock transcriptome. Nature Cell Bio. 22, 1447-59.
19. Ma, s., Wu, Z., Yang, F., Zhang, J., Johnson, R.L., Rosenfeld, M.G., and Guan, K-L. (2021) Matters Arising: Hippo signaling maintains ER expression and ER+ breast cancer growth. Nature 591, E1-E10.
20. Li, F.L., Fu, V., Liu, G., Tang, T., Koradi, A., Peng, X., Kemper, E., Cravatt, B.F., Franklin, J.M., Wu, Z., Mayfield, J., Dixon, J.E., Gerwick, W.H., and Guan, K-L. (2022) Regulation of the Hippo pathway by phosphatidylinositol transfer protein (PITP) and phosphoinositides. Nature Chem. Biol. 18, 1076-1086.
Contact Us
E-mail: guankunliang@westlake.edu.cn