Han Liang's Research Group
AI, Big data, Cancer, Drug development
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The fundamental question driving our research paradigm is how to take full advantage of cancer genomic data to elucidate the molecular basis of human cancer and develop effective therapeutic strategies, thereby contributing to the true promise of personalized or precision cancer therapy. Combining both computational and experimental approaches, my group research focuses on the following areas.
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AI-driven bioinformatic tool development
My group has developed several widely used bioinformatics resources, including TCPA (The Cancer Proteome Atlas), TANRIC, FASMIC, and DrBioRight. TCPA serves as the official site for TCGA functional proteomic data, while TANRIC has become a leading tool for studying lncRNAs in cancer. DrBioRight, a pioneering NLP/AI platform for cancer omics data, anticipated the development of large language models like ChatGPT. Collectively, these tools have been utilized by >200,000 researchers from >100 countries, greatly advancing the field of cancer bioinformatics. -
Characterization of Tumor-Intrinsic Vulnerabilities for Precision Oncology
My group has made significant contributions to identifying driver somatic alterations and combination therapies. My team developed an efficient functional genomics approach that combined high-throughput mutant construction, cell viability assays and drug response assays, resulting in the annotation of the functional effects of >1,000 mutations and 100 gene fusions (Ng et al. Cancer Cell 2018). Using RPPA-based functional proteomics approaches, our studies have led to the discovery of synthetic lethality pairs and combined therapies targeting adaptive signaling rewiring (Li et al. Cancer Cell 2017; Zhao et al. Cancer Cell 2020; Li et al. Nat Cancer 2024). -
Characterization of Tumor-Microenvironment Vulnerabilities for Cancer Immunotherapy
My group has conducted disease-focused, clinically oriented studies using single-cell and spatially resolved techniques. We uncovered an unexpected role of tumor-intrinsic SIRPA in promoting sensitivity to anti-PD1/PDL1 therapy in melanoma (Zhou et al. Cancer Cell 2022). My team also characterized the immune microenvironment of gastric signet-ring cell carcinoma, revealing key modulators of immune resistance (Chen et al. Gastroenterology 2023). Our recent work on the tumor microenvironment in high-grade serous ovarian cancer under PARP inhibition has paved the way for new clinical trials of combination therapies targeting eTreg cells (Luo et al. Cell 2024). -
RNA modification in Cancer Development and Therapy
We are a pioneer in studying A-to-I RNA editing in cancer. Our systematic analyses have characterized the A-to-I RNA editing landscape in human cancers, revealing that RNA editing may introduce as many amino acid changes in cancer cells as somatic mutations (Han et al. Cancer Cell 2015; Wang et al. Genome Res 2017; Peng et al. Cancer Cell 2018). These studies have added a new dimension to our understanding of proteomic and genomic diversity in cancer and was named the Signaling Breakthrough of the Year by Science Signaling. My team has explored therapeutic opportunities related to RNA editing, including edited miR-379-5p as an apoptosis-inducing therapeutic (Xu et al. JCI 2019) and ADAR1-deficient macrophages for effective immunotherapy (Lin et al. JITC 2023). These findings have been highlighted in Cancer Discovery, Nature Reviews Cancer, and Trends in Cancer.