Xiaochao Tan, PhD

Areas of Interest

Research Interests

Research Interests:
Dysregulation of Golgi function has emerged as an important contributor to the development of diverse human diseases, including cancer initiation and progression. Work from our group and others has increasingly demonstrated that aberrant regulation of the Golgi secretory pathway drives a hypersecretory phenotype that promotes immunosuppression, fibrosis, and metastatic progression in cancer cells. Consequently, targeting Golgi-dependent secretory processes has emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy in human cancers. Our laboratory is interested in understanding how oncogenic somatic mutations alter Golgi structure and secretory function, and in leveraging these mechanistic insights to develop novel therapeutic strategies for cancer treatment.

Ongoing Projects:
1) Defining the roles of frequently amplified Golgi-associated genes in cancer growth and metastasis.
2) Investigating how cancer driver mutations promote lung cancer progression and metastasis through modulation of the Golgi secretory pathway.
3) Identifying therapeutically actionable Golgi targets and developing novel Golgi-based therapeutic strategies.