Xinle Niu

Education

Postdoctoral Associate (2006-present), Dept of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School

Ph.D. (2000-2006), Dept of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

M.S. (1997-2000), Dept of Mechanics and Engineering Science, Peking University, China

B.S. (1992-1997), Dept of Mechanics and Engineering Science, Peking University, China

CDP research

The EGFR signaling pathway, one of the most important pathways that regulate growth, survival, proliferation, and differentiation in mammalian cells, is under extensive investigation at the levels of plasma membrane and the cytoplasm. The details of the downstream signaling events to the nucleus, however, remain unclear. To better understand the feedforward cascades to the nucleus and the possible feedback regulation from the nucleus which was supported by recent literature, we extended our study on EGFR signaling to the level of transcription. Upon ligand binding, membrane receptors transduce the external stimulation to a network of cytoplasmic enzymes which in turn activates related transcriptional factors. The activated TFs convey information from the cytoplasm to the nucleus for decoding by transcription and further by translation. It’s known that cancer cells use diverse strategies at the levels of membrane receptors and cytoplasmic pathways to develop tumors, which makes it very difficult for targeting the signaling pathway at upstream levels for therapeutic purposes. Encouraged by our preliminary results, targeting downstream levels of the signaling pathway is expected to provide additional opportunities for cancer drug development.

Publications

Levchenko A, Mehta BM, Niu X, Kang G, Villafania L, Way D, Polycarpe D, Sadelain M, Larson SM. Intercellular transfer of P-glycoprotein mediates acquired multidrug resistance in tumor cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005;102(6):1933-1938

Niu X, Yan Z. The expression of red blood cell deformability in micropore filtration tests. J Biomed Eng (Chinese). 2001;18(4):497-499

Niu X, Yan Z. Micropore filters for measuring red blood cell deformability and their pore diameters. J Biomed Eng (Chinese). 2001;18(3):466-469

Niu X, Yan Z. Theoretical models of micropore filtration under constant driving pressure for assessing RBC deformability. Acta Biophysica Sinica. (Chinese) 2000;16(3): 618-626

Niu X, Yan Z, Liu J. New mathematical model for Thrombelastograph and its applications. Acta Biophysica Sinica. (Chinese) 2000;16(2):334-339

Niu X, Yan Z. A unified theoretical model of micropore filtration for assessing the red blood cell deformability. Acta Biophysica Sinica. (Chinese) 2000;16(1):151-158

Niu X, Yan Z. Investigation methods for assessing RBC deformability with micropore filtration. Chinese Journal of Hemorheology. (Chinese). 2000;10(2):65-71.