Tengfei Bian, Ph.D.

Dr. Bian has built research expertise in cancer biology, medicinal chemistry, and molecular and cellular biology. During his time as apostdoctoral associate, Bian has spent years investigating the effects of chronic stress and cigarette smoking on lung cancer progression and understanding the molecular mechanisms. Bian found that NNAL can deactivate LKB1 through phosphorylation in lung cancer cells and a xenograft mouse model through the activation of the β-adrenergic receptor (AR) and PKA pathway. His findings suggest that such a deactivation may be of great clinical relevance given the tumor-suppressive functions of LKB1 in lung cancer initiation, development and progression as well as the association between the lung cancer patient clinical outcome and the loss of LKB1 function. This important work was published in Oncogene in 2022. He is also working on characterizing the phosphorylation of LKB1 induced by stress hormones and characterizing bioactive small molecule natural products to rescue the function of LKB1 through suppressing the β-AR and PKA pathway. His manuscripts highlight his efforts in cigarette smoking and LKB1 de-activation in lung cancer progression. His sponsor, Dr. Chengguo Xing, is a recognized leader in the medicinal chemistry and cancer biology field and has trained many postdoctoral fellows that have moved on to have successful careers.