University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan
Warner-Lambert/Parke Davis Professor in Medicine Professor of Medicine, Pharmacology and Medicinal Chemistry Director, Michigan Center for Therapeutic Innovation Director, Cancer Drug Discovery Program University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center
Developing new therapies for breast cancer.
STAT3, a protein that regulates several genes known to cause cancer and affects cancer progression, proliferation, metastasis and drug resistance, is an attractive target for breast cancer therapy. Prior BCRF-supported research conducted by Dr. Wang and his team has led to the development of potent STAT3 degraders, which effectively inhibit tumor growth in laboratory models of triple-negative breast cancer. STAT3 degraders show no signs of toxicity even at high doses, and they exhibit potential as a new form of cancer immunotherapy.
Building on his previous findings studying protein degraders, Dr. Wang and his team plan to conduct thorough investigations into the therapeutic potential and mechanisms of action of the STAT3 degrader in treating breast cancer in humans. This includes exploring optimal combination strategies with other therapies and identifying biomarkers to predict treatment effectiveness. They wish to develop the STAT3 degrader as a novel therapy for breast cancer, both as a standalone treatment and in combination with other therapeutic options. This research will be crucial in advancing the STAT3 degrader into clinical development and potentially offer a new effective treatment option for patients with breast cancer.
Dr. Shaomeng Wang’s primary research interest is the discovery and development of novel small-molecule therapeutics for the treatment of human breast cancer and other types of cancer focusing on targeting apoptosis and epigenetics pathways. Dr. Wang has built a comprehensive drug discovery program at the University of Michigan and has advanced four novel anticancer drugs into clinical development and several additional compounds into IND-enabling studies. Dr. Wang has published over 250 manuscripts and is an inventor of more than 50 patents and patent applications.
Dr. Wang’s research program consists of three research laboratories. The computational/informatics laboratory has expertise in lead identification and lead optimization using structure-based methods and informatics. The chemistry laboratory has the capability of synthesizing complex small molecule ligands. The biology/biochemistry/pharmacology laboratory has the capability and expertise for assay development, in-depth molecular mechanism studies and evaluations of the biological activity of new compounds in relevant biochemical assays and laboratory models of human cancer, as well as in vivo pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamic analysis of these compounds.
2001
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