Dr. Yuhong Du
Yuhong Du, PhD, MSc, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology at Emory University School of Medicine and the Associate Director at Emory Chemical Biology Discovery Center. Dr. Du is a member of the Discovery and Developmental Therapeutics Research Program at Winship Cancer Institute.
As a founding member of the Emory Chemical Biology Discovery center (ECBDC), Dr. Du focuses on using high throughput screening technologies to discover small molecule leads for chemical biology and drug discovery against various diseases; and to promote translational research at Emory and beyond. Her expertise includes innovative high-throughput screening (HTS)/high-content screening (HCS) assay design and development, screening robotic operations, HTS/HCS data analysis and efficient project management as well as using label-free biosensors for oncogenic signaling studies and physiological relevant 3D organoids platform for screening. Dr. Du is a founding member of ECBDC and has directed the design, acquisition, assembly, and operation of the ECBDC's two advanced robotic screening systems to facilitate ultra-throughput screening (uHTS) and image-based HCS. She is a recipient of Emory School of Medicine 2018 “The Hidden Gem award” for her many years’ dedications and outstanding contributions to the school of medicine and beyond.
Dr. Du’s experimental contributions have led to the successful competition of the Emory Center to become one of nine national centers within the Molecular Library Screening Centers Network (MLSCN) at the NIH (grant #: U54 MH074428, $10 million funding). With the demonstrated capabilities in HTS, HCS, and small molecular probe/drug discovery, the ECBDC was selected by the NCI in 2009 and renewed in 2016 to be part of an eleven-member national Chemical Biology Consortium (CBC) aimed at accelerating the discovery and development of new and innovative, targeted cancer therapies. Dr. Du’s role is to serve as the leader of HTS for Emory Specialized Application Center in the NCI CBC. Through her involvement in national and institutional projects, she have led more than 40 HTS campaigns which have led to the successful discovery of a large number of important chemical probes for chemical biology studies and drug discovery. Examples include small molecule probes for the 14-3-3/Raf-1 interaction, eI4E/eI4G interaction, ERα/coactivator association, EP2 activation or inhibition, NOX2 inhibitors and inhibitor of delta-secretase for Alzheimer's disease. Her team-science spirit and contributions are recognized by multiple designated co-first authorships in various publications. In addition, she is involved in training and supervising technical staff and postdoctoral fellows for HTS and HCS, designing and carrying out innovative screening assays and HTS, and efficiently executing projects in a team-oriented setting. In 2019, the National Institute on Aging (NIA) awarded approximately $37 million over five years to a team of international researchers, led by Emory University, to help accelerate the development of promising new therapies that will effectively treat or prevent Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Dr. Du serves as a co-investigator leading the HTS effort to develop new therapies for Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr. Du received her Ph.D from the National University of Singapore in Life Sciences and Pharmacy (2003) and completed her postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Pharmacology at Emory University. Prior to obtaining her PhD, Dr. Du earned both her MSc (1996) and BSc (1991) from the School of Pharmacy at Shanghai Medical University, Shanghai, China.