Bogang Wu, Ph.D.

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SUMMARY

Bogang Wu, Ph.D., conducts research aimed at understanding and enhancing immune responses in cancer, with a focus on advancing therapeutic strategies following diagnosis and treatment. His lab investigates tumor immune microenvironment, immune cell differentiation, emerging anticancer therapeutics and immune-mediated pathophysiology. Dr. Wu seeks to uncover the mechanisms behind tumor immune evasion, develop synergistic immunotherapy combinations and engineer immune cells — such as CAR-T — to improve antitumor effectiveness. By leveraging systematic approaches such as CRISPR screens, spatial-omic analyses of patient tissues and innovative preclinical models, his team integrates translational and mechanistic studies to expand the horizons of immunopathogenic pathway and therapeutic development.

Focus areas

• Immune cell fate determination. Epigenetic marks play a key role in defining cell identity, and immune cells are characterized by their high cellular plasticity. Dr. Wu employs multi-omic approaches — including single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), ATAC-sequencing and ChIP-sequencing — to investigate how chromatin remodeling complexes influence immune cell fate and function. His goal is to translate these insights into the development of novel cellular immunotherapies.
• Mechanisms of tumor immune evasion. Tumors evade the immune system by blocking immune cell infiltration and suppressing antigen presentation mechanisms. Dr. Wu's laboratory explores these processes using spatial-omic analyses of human specimens and syngeneic mouse tumor models. The aim is to uncover novel therapeutic strategies to enhance host antitumor immunity.
• Combination immunotherapy approaches. Many patients with cancer do not experience lasting benefits from current immunotherapies, often due to weak pre-existing antitumor immunity. Dr. Wu's research addresses this challenge through mechanism-guided approaches. By combining existing immunotherapies with innovative anticancer treatments — such as antibody-drug conjugates — his work holds strong promise for enhancing immunotherapy effectiveness and achieving more durable clinical responses.
• Immune tolerance and tissue homeostasis. Normal tissues maintain a delicate balance between immune tolerance and surveillance. Disruptions in this balance, often driven by dysregulated immune signaling, can lead to unwanted inflammation, autoimmunity and excessive tissue damage. Dr. Wu's team uses novel genetically engineered mouse models to investigate critical signaling pathways that regulate immune homeostasis in tissues and to study immune-mediated disease pathogenesis in humans.

Significance to patient care

Dr. Wu is working to make cancer treatments more effective by helping the body's immune system fight tumors. His team studies how cancer hides from the body's defenses and works on ways to help the immune system find and destroy cancer more easily. They also create new treatment combinations — such as using immunotherapy with special targeted drugs — to make therapies work better for more patients. By closely studying immune cells and testing new ideas in the lab, Dr. Wu aims to develop groundbreaking treatments that will help people with cancer and other immune-related diseases live longer and healthier lives.

Professional highlights

• Early K99/R00 Career Transition Award, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, 2024-2028.
• Research Grant, The Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation, 2023-2025.
• Irving Scholar, The Arthur and Sandra Irving Cancer Immunology Symposium, Arthur and Sandra Irving Foundation, 2024.
• Young Investigator Award, Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, 2024.
• AACR-Bristol Myers Squibb Award, American Association for Cancer Research, 2023.