Meet the PI

Wei Hsu, Ph.D.
email: Wei_Hsu@urmc.rochester.edu

Wei Hsu was born in 1966 in Taipei, Taiwan. He met Professor Su-fang Chien during his junior year and performed research on glycoprotein and glycosylation at Tamkang University and Academia Sinica. After graduating in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in chemistry, Wei entered the Ph.D. program at Mount Sinai School of Medicine of CUNY. Wei initiated the first general effort to understand the pleiotropic effects of interleukin-6 by elucidating the transcriptional regulatory mechanism mediated by interleukin-6. He explored many aspects of molecular biology and biochemistry in the group of Professor Selina Chen-Kiang. Wei earned his Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences in 1994 and furthered his training in mammalian genetics and developmental biology to study the molecular basis of human diseases. This led to a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Professor Frank Costantini at Columbia University. Using a forward genetic approach, the Axin1 gene involved in embryonic axis formation was identified. Wei then initiated a biochemical study to unfold the function of Axin. These analyses led to a model in which Axin regulates the canonical Wnt pathway by modulating the stability of beta-catenin. In 1998, Wei became a research faculty member at Columbia. He continued to investigate the role of Axin in mammalian development and explored methods for targeted gene expression in an inducible fashion in mice.

Wei is current an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Genetics and Center for Oral Biology at the University of Rochester. He has been a faculty member since November of 2002. Wei is also a member in the James Wilmot Cancer Center. His research interests span the fields of mammalian genetics, developmental biology and cancer research. The primary focus of his lab is to study Genetic Regulatory Circuits in Development and Disease. His research team members investigate the genetic control of cellular signaling and signal transduction mechanisms. By delineating these regulatory networks underlying normal developmental processes, they hope to advance the knowledge base of human diseases, leading to novel molecular therapies for the treatment of these diseases. To achieve the goal, his group focuses on (1) characterizing morphogenetic signaling pathways that control mammalian development, (2) elucidating the mechanism by which these developmental signals regulate cell survival, growth and differentiation, and (3) creating mouse models to study the molecular basis of human diseases. Current efforts concentrate on the Wnt signal transduction mechanism and its interactions with other cellular signaling pathways during craniofacial morphogenesis, early neural development, placentation, and breast development and cancer. A recent study from his laboratory has linked the Wnt signal transduction pathway for the first time to craniosynostosis, one of the most common congenital craniofacial defects in humans. An important role of Wnt signaling in proliferation and differentiation of skeletal progenitors during bone development also has been demonstrated. His group also developed several versatile tools uniquely suited for the study of stem cell biology. This includes development of an advanced system for gene expression in a lineage-specific fashion in mice. It has sparked a lot of interests and resulted in numerous requests for this novel system. His group continues to investigate various developmental processes and diseases using a multidisciplinary approach, including genetics and genomics, cell and developmental biology, and protein chemistry and proteomics.

Wei has received distinctions including the National Kidney Foundation fellowship award, the Northeast Regional Developmental Biology traveling/research award, Idea award from the Department of Defense, and the PHS grant awards from the National Institutes of Health. He has served as a referee for NIH, DOD and Alzheimer's Association grant review panels as well as the journals of Development, Developmental Biology, American Journal of Pathology, Genesis, Molecular Reproduction and Development,Journal of Dental Research, Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal, BioTechniques, and Nucleic Acid Research, on the editorial boards for International Journal of Women's Health and Cancer Management and Research, and on the award committees for American Association for Dental Research and Eastman Dental Center.

Last updated: Oct 1, 2006