Hai Rao

Professor and Chair of the Department of Biochemistry

Southern University of Science and Technology

Short Biography

HAI RAO, Professor and Chair of the Department of Biochemistry at the Southern University of Science and Technology. Formerly a professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center, his research focuses on the mechanism and function of ubiquitin-mediated degradation. His work has been consistently funded by NIH, DOD, the American Cancer Society, and multiple private foundations.  Research from his laboratory has been published in leading journals such as Nature，PNAS，JMC, JCB，JBC，Cancer Research，Oncogene. 

Presentation Topic: Mini-PROTACs
Proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC) that selectively eliminates detrimental proteins represents a promising therapeutic strategy for various diseases. We have developed a set of PROTACs with the short and interchangeable degradation signals that attract several distinct E3 ubiquitin ligases. We demonstrate the utility and efficacy of these mini-PROTACs in vitro and in vivo against several oncogenic drivers, expanding the repertoire of limited ligands and degradation pathways available for PROTACs.