Nam Y Lee, PhD
Cancer Biology Program
Biography
Dr. Lee received his doctoral degree in Biophysical Chemistry from the University of Iowa in 2005. After his postdoctoral studies at Duke University joined the faculty at the Ohio State University in 2011, where he was promoted with tenure. In 2017, he joined the faculty at University of Arizona as an Associate Professor. Dr. Lee has been a recipient of multiple awards, including the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Fellowship (2002-2004), the Duke Medical Oncology Research Fellowship (2006-2007), an F32 Postdoctoral Fellowship (2008-2010), and a K99/R00 NIH Career Development Award from the National Heary Lung and Blood Institutte (2011-2014). Dr. Lee also garnered the Duke University Bell Award in Basic Cancer Research (2009).
Cancer Focus
Defects in TGF-b signaling often give rise to tumorigenic and aggressive metastatic phenotypes in most cancers. A major part of our long-term goals is to gain a fundamental understanding of how TGF-b exploits highly context-dependent gene regulation as well as transcription-independent processes to differentially regulate tumor cell behavior and its microenvironment. Our recent efforts involving quantitative proteomics and mass spectrometry-based interactome analyses have unveiled new facets of TGF-b signaling including critical roles for Smads and TAK1 in mitochondrial and microtubule dynamics. Current projects explore how these and other key TGF-b effectors contribute to bioenergetic and cytoskeletal dysfunction in cancer and metabolic disorders.
Selected Publications
Mukhopadhyay, H., and N. Y. Lee, "Multifaceted roles of TAK1 signaling in cancer.", Oncogene, vol. 39, issue 7, pp. 1402-1413, 2020 02. PMCID: PMC7023988 PMID: 31695153
Singh, P., L. M. Jenkins, B. Horst, V. Alers, S. Pradhan, P. Kaur, T. Srivastava, N. Hempel, B. Győrffy, E. V. Broude, et al., "Inhibin Is a Novel Paracrine Factor for Tumor Angiogenesis and Metastasis.", Cancer Res, vol. 78, issue 11, pp. 2978-2989, 2018 06 01. PMCID: PMC6510404 PMID: 29535220
Shah, N., S. Kumar, N. Zaman, C. C. Pan, J. C. Bloodworth, W. Lei, J. M. Streicher, N. Hempel, K. Mythreye, and N. Y. Lee, "TAK1 activation of alpha-TAT1 and microtubule hyperacetylation control AKT signaling and cell growth.", Nat Commun, vol. 9, issue 1, pp. 1696, 2018 04 27. PMCID: PMC5923212 PMID: 29703898
Kumar, S., C. C. Pan, N. Shah, S. E. Wheeler, K. R. Hoyt, N. Hempel, K. Mythreye, and N. Y. Lee, "Activation of Mitofusin2 by Smad2-RIN1 Complex during Mitochondrial Fusion.", Mol Cell, vol. 62, issue 4, pp. 520-31, 2016 05 19. PMCID: PMC4877164 PMID: 27184078
Kumar, S., C. C. Pan, J. C. Bloodworth, A. B. Nixon, C. Theuer, D. G. Hoyt, and N. Y. Lee, "Antibody-directed coupling of endoglin and MMP-14 is a key mechanism for endoglin shedding and deregulation of TGF-β signaling.", Oncogene, vol. 33, issue 30, pp. 3970-9, 2014 Jul 24. PMCID: PMC3969897 PMID: 24077288