YiQing Lü

Cancer geneticist YiQing Lü joins the Biology Department fall 2023, bringing a passion for science, teaching and culture to Suffolk.

YiQing’s research is in functional genomics and proteomics, with focuses on the cancer biology of the p53 tumor suppressor protein and human adenoviruses. His teaching interest lies in the scholarship of learning. He is excited to contribute to the continued excellence in both teaching and research within the Department of Biology, and looks forward to hosting events focused on student life, learning, and community outreach, and to promoting research opportunities.

A native of Beijing, China, YiQing completed his undergraduate and master’s study in biochemistry at McGill University in Montreal, followed by a doctoral program in cancer genetics at Mount Sinai Hospital and the University of Toronto. Outside of his work, Lü loves classical music, history, nature and, reading.

Research/ Fields of Interest

• Research:
  • functional genomics and proteomics
  • cancer genetics
  • adenovirus
  • p53 biology
• Teaching:
  • innovative and integrated science teaching
  • scholarship of teaching and learning

Selected Publications

• Genome-wide CRISPR screens identify novel regulators of wild-type and mutant p53 stability. Lu et al. Nature Cancer, in revision. bioRxiv (2022-3).
• Cross-talk between mutant p53 and p62/SQSTM1 augments cancer cell migration by promoting the degradation of cell adhesion proteins. Mukherjee et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119 (17), e2119644119.
• Loss of epigenetic regulation disrupts lineage integrity, induces aberrant alveogenesis, and promotes breast cancer. Langille et al. Cancer discovery 12 (12), 2930-2953.
• In vivo CRISPR screens reveal Serpinb9 and Adam2 as regulators of immune therapy response in lung cancer. Dervovic et al. Nature Communications 14 (1), 3150.
• Investigating the mechanisms of peritoneal metastasis in gastric adenocarcinoma using a novel ex vivo peritoneal explant model. Ng et al. Scientific Reports 12 (1), 11499.
• CRISPR-UMI: single-cell lineage tracing of pooled CRISPR–Cas9 screens. Michlits et al. Nature methods 14 (12), 1191-1197.
• Interaction of adenovirus type 5 E4orf4 with the nuclear pore subunit Nup205 is required for proper viral gene expression. Lu et al. Journal of Virology 88 (22), 13249-13259.
• BimEL is phosphorylated at mitosis by Aurora A and targeted for degradation by βTrCP1. Moustafa-Kamal et al. Cell Death & Differentiation 20 (10), 1393-1403.

Professional Activities

• YQ Lü*, J Moffat, M Taipale, A.-C Gingras, V Rotter, M Oren, D Schramek, Genome-wide CRISPR screens identify novel regulators of wild-type and mutant p53 stability. 12th Cell Signaling Meeting, Banff, April 23-26, 2023 [Poster selected for oral presentation.]
• YQ Lü*, J Moffat, M Taipale, A.-C Gingras, V Rotter, M Oren, D Schramek, Genome-wide CRISPR screens identify novel regulators of wild-type and mutant p53 stability. 6th Li-Fraumeni Syndrome Association Meeting, Bethesda/NIH, USA, October 12-16, 2022. [Poster selected for presentation.]
• YQ Lü*, J Moffat, M Taipale, A.-C Gingras, V Rotter, M Oren, D Schramek, Genome-wide CRISPR screens identify novel regulators of wild-type and mutant p53 stability. 18th International p53 Workshop, Rehovot, Israel, May 22-26, 2022. [Poster selected for presentation.]
• S Mukherjee, Y Lü, M Maddalena, K Teng, S Sinha, O Hassin, Y Aylon, D Schramek, M Oren, Understanding the impact of p53 mutations by interrogating its protein interactome, The 27th congress of the European Association for Cancer Research, virtual, 2021.
• D Ng, K Kazazian, K Lee, Y Lu, A Ali, K Pacholczyk, S Brar, J Conner, DK Kim, M Magalhaes, CJ Swallow D. Human peritoneal explant model reveals genomic alterations that facilitate peritoneal implantation of gastric cancer cells. AACR Conference on Cancer Metastasis, Portland, OR, USA, January 9-12, 2022.
• YQ Lü*, J Moffat, M Taipale, A.-C Gingras, M Oren, D Schramek, Functional Characterization of Regulators of p53 Gain-of-Function Mutants, 8th International Mutant p53 and Isoform Meeting, Lyon, France, May 14-19, 2019.
• YQ Lü*, J Segal, U Elling, M Taipale, A.-C Gingras, M Oren, D Schramek, Functional Characterization of Regulators of p53 Gain-of-Function Mutants, 4th International LFS Association Symposium, Toronto, April 25-29, 2018.
• YQ Lü*, J Segal, U Elling, M Taipale, A.-C Gingras, M Oren, D Schramek, Functional Characterization of Regulators of p53 Gain-of-Function Mutants, The 17th International p53 Workshop, Singapore, July 8-12, 2017.
• YQ Lü*, J Segal, U Elling, M Taipale, A.-C Gingras, M Oren D Schramek, Functional Characterization of Regulators of p53 Gain-of-Function Mutants, The 3rd Course in Breast Cancer, Institut Curie, Paris, France, June 19-23, 2017. [Invited, best poster award.]
• YQ Lü*, M Taipale, A.-C Gingras, D Schramek, Functional Characterization of Regulators of p53 Gain-of-Function Mutants, Karolinska Institute - Toronto Development Biology Workshop, Toronto, August 22-28, 2016. [Best poster prize.]
• Y Lü*, I Gamache, P Blanchette, D Forbes, T Dobner, P Branton, J Teodoro*. Interaction of Adenovirus type 5 E4orf4 with the nucleoporin subunit Nup205 is required for proper viral gene expression. 46th DNA Tumour Virus meeting, Birmingham, UK, July 15 – July 21, 2013. [Invited talk; poster selected for oral presentation and poster prize.]
• YQ Lü*, I Gamache, P Blanchette, D Forbes, T Dobner, P Branton, J Teodoro, Human Adenovirus Type 5 E4orf4 Interacts With the Nucleopore Component Nup 205 to Regulate Viral Gene Expression and Enhance Virus Replication, DNA Tumour Virus Meeting, Montréal, July 16 – July 22, 2012. [Poster selected for oral presentation; best posters prize.]
• M Moustafa*, YQ Lü, I Gamache, J Teodoro, The Chicken Anemia Virus Protein Apoptin Binds and Inhibits the Anaphase-Promoting Complex Through an Essential IR motif, DNA Tumour Virus Meeting, Montréal, July 16–22, 2012.
• YQ Lü*, I Gamache, P Blanchette, D Forbes, T Dobner, P Branton, J Teodoro, Human Adenovirus Type 5 E4orf4 Interacts With the Nucleopore Component Nup 205 to Regulate Viral Gene Expression, Gairdner Foundation Virology Conference, L.K.S. Institute of Virology, Edmonton, May 31 – June 1, 2012.
• YQ Lü* and J Teodoro, Nucleoporin Nup 205 is required for Arginine-Rich-Motif mediated viral protein nuclear import, Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel) & McGill Cancer Center Bi-Annual Conference, Montréal, Oct. 18-20, 2010.

Employment History

Assistant professors and Lecturers at University of Toronto, University of Calgary, Portage College, McGill University

Education

• Ph.D., Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto and Mount Sinai Hospital
• M.Sc., Biochemistry and Oncology, McGill University
• B.Sc., First Class Honours Biochemistry, McGill University

Awards & Honors

• Banting and Best Scholar, Canadian Institute of Health Research
• CIHR-Michael Smith Foreign Study Fellowship
• Queen Elizabeth II Awards in Science and Technology
• Formation de doctorat et de maîtrise, Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé