Duojia Pan, Ph.D.
Professor & Chair

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Duojia (DJ) Pan received his undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Peking University in 1988. He came to the U.S. through the China-United States Biochemistry Examination and Application (CUSBEA) program and received a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1993. After postdoctoral training at the University of California, Berkeley, with Dr. Gerald Rubin, Dr. Pan joined the UT Southwestern faculty as an Assistant Professor of Physiology in 1998 and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2004. He was recruited to Johns Hopkins that year, and during his time in Baltimore, he was made an HHMI Investigator (2008), a Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science (2012), and was awarded the Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research (2013). In 2016, Dr. Pan returned to UT Southwestern Medical Center as Chairman of the Department of Physiology. 

Dr. Pan investigates the molecular mechanisms of growth control and tissue homeostasis. He is best known for pioneering work on the Hippo signaling pathway, an evolutionarily conserved developmental pathway that controls organ size in all animals. Using Drosophila as a model, his laboratory made a series of discoveries that defined, in a stepwise manner, the key molecular events in the Hippo signaling pathway. His team further established a critical role for the Hippo pathway in controlling mammalian organ size, regeneration and tumorigenesis. Besides research on the Hippo pathway, the Pan laboratory also elucidated the molecular function of the Tsc1 and Tsc2 tumor suppressor genes, linking Tsc1/Tsc2 to Rheb and TOR signaling. This work provided the key molecular insight for the use of mTOR inhibitors in the treatment of Tuberous Sclerosis. His current efforts are aimed at understanding the composition, mechanism and regulation of the Hippo pathway, elucidating its physiological roles in normal development and diseases, and discovery of chemical probes targeting the Hippo pathway.

Undergraduate

Peking University (1988), Biochemistry

Graduate School

Uni of California (UCLA) (1993), Biological Chemistry

• Evolution of Signaling Pathways
• Gene Regulation
• Growth Control
• Signal Transduction
• Tumor Suppressor Genes and Oncogenes

Featured Publications

Toll Receptor-Mediated Hippo Signaling Controls Innate Immunity in Drosophila.

Liu B, Zheng Y, Yin F, Yu J, Silverman N, Pan D Cell 2016 Jan 164 3 406-19

Identification of Happyhour/MAP4K as Alternative Hpo/Mst-like Kinases in the Hippo Kinase Cascade.

Zheng Y, Wang W, Liu B, Deng H, Uster E, Pan D Dev. Cell 2015 Sep 34 6 642-55

ß-Catenin destruction complex-independent regulation of Hippo-YAP signaling by APC in intestinal tumorigenesis.

Cai J, Maitra A, Anders RA, Taketo MM, Pan D Genes Dev. 2015 Jul 29 14 1493-506

Structural basis for Mob1-dependent activation of the core Mst-Lats kinase cascade in Hippo signaling.

Ni L, Zheng Y, Hara M, Pan D, Luo X Genes Dev. 2015 Jul 29 13 1416-31

Homeostatic control of Hippo signaling activity revealed by an endogenous activating mutation in YAP.

Chen Q, Zhang N, Xie R, Wang W, Cai J, Choi KS, David KK, Huang B, Yabuta N, Nojima H, Anders RA, Pan D Genes Dev. 2015 Jun 29 12 1285-97

Spectrin regulates Hippo signaling by modulating cortical actomyosin activity.

Deng H, Wang W, Yu J, Zheng Y, Qing Y, Pan D Elife 2015 4 e06567

A temporal requirement for Hippo signaling in mammary gland differentiation, growth, and tumorigenesis.

Chen Q, Zhang N, Gray RS, Li H, Ewald AJ, Zahnow CA, Pan D Genes Dev. 2014 Mar 28 5 432-7

The Hippo effector Yorkie activates transcription by interacting with a histone methyltransferase complex through Ncoa6.

Qing Y, Yin F, Wang W, Zheng Y, Guo P, Schozer F, Deng H, Pan D Elife 2014 3

Structural basis for autoactivation of human Mst2 kinase and its regulation by RASSF5.

Ni L, Li S, Yu J, Min J, Brautigam CA, Tomchick DR, Pan D, Luo X Structure 2013 Oct 21 10 1757-68

Spatial organization of Hippo signaling at the plasma membrane mediated by the tumor suppressor Merlin/NF2.

Yin F, Yu J, Zheng Y, Chen Q, Zhang N, Pan D Cell 2013 Sep 154 6 1342-55

• Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research
  (2013)
• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
  (2012)
• Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Scholar
  (2006-2008)
• American Cancer Society Research Scholar
  (2003-2006)
• American Heart Association National Scientist Development Award
  (2001-2005)