Meet the P.I.

Dr. Gen-Sheng Feng is Professor of Pathology, School of Medicine, and Professor of Molecular Biology, Division of Biological Sciences, at the University of California San Diego. He is a member of the Moores UCSD Cancer Center. In his postdoctoral work with Dr. Tony Pawson in Toronto, Canada, Dr. Feng discovered mouse Syp (now called Shp2), a non-receptor tyrosine phosphatase with two SH2 domains (Science, 1993). Interestingly, this PTPase acts to promote signaling through Ras-Erk and has been identified as a proto-oncogene in leukemia. This lab has deciphered critical roles of Shp2 in self-renewal and differentiation of embryonic, hematopoietic and neural stem cells.

More recently, Dr. Feng’s group discovered a tumor-suppressor role of Shp2/Ptpn11 in liver cancer (Cancer Cell, 2011), in contrast to its leukemogenic effect. The current focus of the lab is on deciphering the dual functions and mechanisms of signaling molecules in hepatocarcinogenesis (Cancer Cell, 2012), with the goal of developing better therapeutic strategies and identifying biomarkers for early diagnosis of liver cancer patients.

Dr. Feng received a career development award from American Diabetes Association. He has served on editorial boards for MCB, JBC, Cell Res and J. Hepatology.

Tel: (858) 822-5441

Email: gfeng@ucsd.edu