Hao Wu, Ph.D.

The Wu laboratory of structural and mechanistic immunology seeks to elucidate the mechanisms that govern the assembly and regulation of supramolecular complexes in innate immunity, with the ultimate goal of revealing targets for therapeutic intervention. Seeing is believing, and we hold structural insights as our guiding principle to understand complex biological questions. Our current research focuses on inflammasomes, which are a family of cellular machines for activating inflammatory caspases. Activated caspases process the IL-1 family cytokines and the pore forming protein gasdermin D (GSDMD), and GSDMD pores release the mature cytokines and cause pyroptotic cell death. In addition, we continue to study the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor and Toll-like receptor (TLR) pathways.

There are thus three pillars to my research program: 1) cryo-EM and other biophysical methods to understand molecular complexes, 2) structure-directed discovery of therapeutics in immune diseases and cancer, and 3) cellular imaging and other tools to study the assembly of supramolecular complexes in cells. Our studies have identified and strengthened our knowledge of supramolecular assemblies in innate immunity. This knowledge is also contributing to therapeutic development for aging- and life-style-related diseases, including cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, and metabolic diseases.