Victor W. Hsu, MD

Brigham And Women's Hospital

Academic Titles

Professor, Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Research Program Affiliation

Member, Angiogenesis, Invasion and Metastasis

Research Abstract

We study two fundamental cellular processes, intracellular transport and cell death, and are applying insights from these studies to cancer biology.

Coat proteins initiate intracellular transport pathways by bending membrane to form transport carriers and binding cargoes for their sorting into these carriers. We have been elucidating the mechanistic details of these roles, which are also shedding insights into how transport is needed for cell invasion and nutrient uptake, key cellular processes that are critical for tumor growth and metastasis.

Ferroptosis is a recently appreciated form of cell death that is activated by the iron-induced generation of reactive oxygen species, which oxidizes membrane lipids to compromise cell integrity. Cancer cells are particularly susceptible to this form of cell death due to their dependency on iron for growth. We are elucidating ways that cancer cells protect against ferroptosis, which also contributes to identifying new targets for cancer therapeutics.