Rate My Professor Dianqing Wu

Dianqing (Dan) Wu is the Gladys Phillips Crofoot Professor of Pharmacology and Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at Yale School of Medicine. He holds additional appointments in Cancer Signaling Networks, the Colton Center for Autoimmunity, Molecular Medicine, Pharmacology and Physiology, the Vascular Biology and Therapeutics Program, the Yale Center for Immuno-Oncology, and the Yale Stem Cell Center. Wu earned his BS degree from Nanjing University in 1985 and his PhD from Clarkson University in 1991, followed by postdoctoral training at the California Institute of Technology until 1994. Before joining the Yale faculty in 2006, he taught at the University of Rochester and the University of Connecticut, maintaining an adjunct professorship at UConn until 2014. His research investigates the molecular basis and function of signal transduction pathways initiated by seven-transmembrane receptors coupling to heterotrimeric GTP-binding proteins, with emphasis on chemoattractant-activated signaling pathways involved in leukocyte recruitment, inflammation, host defense, and related diseases such as atherosclerosis, arthritis, and tumorigenesis. He also studies Wnt signaling pathways in developmental processes, bone formation, stem cell biology, osteoporosis, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and cancer.

Wu's laboratory employs molecular, cell biological, biochemical, chemical biological, transgenic, functional genomic, and proteomic approaches to elucidate mechanisms including those linked by PLCβ, PI3Kγ, PIXα/Pak/Cdc42, PTEN, P-Rex1, and Myo1f. Key discoveries include the interaction between Wnt coreceptor LRP-5 and Axin, establishing the first connection from Wnt receptor to intracellular signaling, and the role of Dkk2 in regulating osteogenic differentiation. He developed an antibody that blocks tumors in animal models of colorectal cancer and holds four U.S. patents. Wu has authored 73 publications amassing over 7,800 citations, including recent works such as "Cell surface RNAs control neutrophil recruitment" (Cell, 2024), "Wnt5 controls splenic myelopoiesis and neutrophil functional ambivalency during DSS-induced colitis" (Cell Reports, 2024), and "LDL receptor-related protein 5 selectively transports unesterified polyunsaturated fatty acids to intracellular compartments" (Nature Communications, 2024). He serves on editorial boards of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Cell Research, and Current Genomics, and is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and American Society of Cell Biology. Wu received the Outstanding Investigator Award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.