Lani Wu, PhD
Professor
Pharmaceutical Chemistry
School of Pharmacy

Dr. Lani Wu is interested in discovering principles underlying cellular individuality, the emergence of collective cellular behaviors, and the evolution of drug resistance. She also applies the high-throughput technology developed by her laboratory to diverse applications, including mapping paths of signal transduction and accelerating drug discovery. Prior to arriving at UCSF, Dr. Wu has worked at the UT Southwestern, Harvard University, Rosetta Informatics, Microsoft, and Princeton University.

Websites

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• SimuCell (utsouthwestern.edu)
• Altschuler Wu Lab (AltschulerWuLab.org)

Grants and Projects

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• Maximizing the predictive power of high-throughput, microscopy-based phenotypic screens, NIH, 2014-2026
• Scalable Image-Based Approach for Profiling and Annotating Very Large Compound Libraries, NIH/NCI, 2020-2025
• A drug discovery paradigm for fast-tracking adaptations to high altitude, DARPA, 2019-2024
• (PQD1) An Iterative Approach for Overcoming Evolving Targeted Therapy Resistance, NIH, 2014-2019
• Image based phenotypic profiling of single-cell responses to perturbations, NIH, 2007-2014

Publications (84)

Top publication keywords:
NeutrophilsAlprostadilCyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p21cdc42 GTP-Binding Protein, Saccharomyces cerevisiaePhotoreceptor Cells, InvertebrateHeterograftsDrug DiscoveryBiological PhenomenaCell PolarityProto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-6Protein KinasesUbiquitin-Protein LigasesMicroscopy, FluorescenceCell BiologyReceptor Cross-Talk

• Patterns of Early p21 Dynamics Determine Proliferation-Senescence Cell Fate after Chemotherapy.
  Cell 2019 Hsu CH, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF
• Improving drug discovery with high-content phenotypic screens by systematic selection of reporter cell lines.
  Nature biotechnology 2015 Kang J, Hsu CH, Wu Q, Liu S, Coster AD, Posner BA, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF
• PhenoRipper: software for rapidly profiling microscopy images.
  Nature methods 2012 Rajaram S, Pavie B, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• Network crosstalk dynamically changes during neutrophil polarization.
  Cell 2012 Ku CJ, Wang Y, Weiner OD, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF
• Patterns of basal signaling heterogeneity can distinguish cellular populations with different drug sensitivities.
  Molecular systems biology 2010 Singh DK, Ku CJ, Wichaidit C, Steininger RJ, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• On the spontaneous emergence of cell polarity.
  Nature 2008 Altschuler SJ, Angenent SB, Wang Y, Wu LF
• Endocytosis optimizes the dynamic localization of membrane proteins that regulate cortical polarity.
  Cell 2007 Marco E, Wedlich-Soldner R, Li R, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF
• Multidimensional drug profiling by automated microscopy.
  Science (New York, N.Y.) 2004 Perlman ZE, Slack MD, Feng Y, Mitchison TJ, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ

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• A PINK1 input threshold arises from positive feedback in the PINK1/Parkin mitophagy decision circuit.
  Cell reports 2023 Waters CS, Angenent SB, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF
• Searching for molecular hypoxia sensors among oxygen-dependent enzymes.
  eLife 2023 Li L, Shen S, Bickler P, Jacobson MP, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• Small Molecule in situ Resin Capture - A Compound First Approach to Natural Product Discovery.
  bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology 2023 Bogdanov A, Salib MN, Chase AB, Hammerlindl H, Muskat MN, Luedtke S, Barbosa da Silva E, O'Donoghue AJ, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ, Molinski TF, Jensen PR
• Dissecting the effects of GTPase and kinase domain mutations on LRRK2 endosomal localization and activity.
  Cell reports 2023 Rinaldi C, Waters CS, Li Z, Kumbier K, Rao L, Nichols RJ, Jacobson MP, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• Selection of Optimal Cell Lines for High-Content Phenotypic Screening.
  ACS chemical biology 2023 Heinrich L, Kumbier K, Li L, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF
• Biallelic TET2 mutations confer sensitivity to 5'-azacitidine in acute myeloid leukemia.
  JCI insight 2023 Stölzel F, Fordham SE, Nandana D, Lin WY, Blair H, Elstob C, Bell HL, Mohr B, Ruhnke L, Kunadt D, Dill C, Allsop D, Piddock R, Soura EN, Park C, Fadly M, Rahman T, Alharbi A, Wobus M, Altmann H, …
• Selection of optimal cell lines for high-content phenotypic screening.
  bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology 2023 Heinrich L, Kumbier K, Li L, Altschuler SP, Wu LF
• Publisher Correction: Integrative spatial analysis of cell morphologies and transcriptional states with MUSE.
  Nature biotechnology 2022 Bao F, Deng Y, Wan S, Shen SQ, Wang B, Dai Q, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF
• Integrative spatial analysis of cell morphologies and transcriptional states with MUSE.
  Nature biotechnology 2022 Bao F, Deng Y, Wan S, Shen SQ, Wang B, Dai Q, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF
• Modulating environmental signals to reveal mechanisms and vulnerabilities of cancer persisters.
  Science advances 2022 Sun X, Bieber JM, Hammerlindl H, Chalkley RJ, Li KH, Burlingame AL, Jacobson MP, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• Differential toxicity to murine small and large intestinal epithelium induced by oncology drugs.
  Communications biology 2022 Bieber JM, Sanman LE, Sun X, Hammerlindl H, Bao F, Roth MA, Koleske ML, Huang L, Aweeka F, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• Analysis of growth cone extension in standardized coordinates highlights self-organization rules during wiring of the Drosophila visual system.
  PLoS genetics 2021 Ji W, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• Transit-Amplifying Cells Coordinate Changes in Intestinal Epithelial Cell-Type Composition.
  Developmental cell 2021 Sanman LE, Chen IW, Bieber JM, Steri V, Trentesaux C, Hann B, Klein OD, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• Systematic alteration of in vitro metabolic environments reveals empirical growth relationships in cancer cell phenotypes.
  Cell reports 2021 Kochanowski K, Sander T, Link H, Chang J, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF
• Loss of TET2 Affects Proliferation and Drug Sensitivity through Altered Dynamics of Cell-State Transitions.
  Cell systems 2020 Morinishi L, Kochanowski K, Levine RL, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• Generation and Quantitative Imaging of Enteroid Monolayers.
  Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) 2020 Sanman LE, Chen IW, Bieber JM, Thorne CA, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• A multi-modal data resource for investigating topographic heterogeneity in patient-derived xenograft tumors.
  Scientific data 2019 Rajaram S, Roth MA, Malato J, VandenBerg S, Hann B, Atreya CE, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF
• Scalable analysis of cell-type composition from single-cell transcriptomics using deep recurrent learning.
  Nature methods 2019 Deng Y, Bao F, Dai Q, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• Telomerase-Mediated Strategy for Overcoming Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Targeted Therapy and Chemotherapy Resistance.
  Neoplasia (New York, N.Y.) 2018 Mender I, LaRanger R, Luitel K, Peyton M, Girard L, Lai TP, Batten K, Cornelius C, Dalvi MP, Ramirez M, Du W, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ, Brekken R, Martinez ED, Minna JD, Wright WE, Shay JW
• Planar Enteroids Reveal an Autonomous WNT And BMP Circuit Controlling Intestinal Epithelial Growth and Organization.
  The FASEB Journal 2018 Curtis A. Thorne, Ina W. Chen, Laura E. Sanman, Melanie H. Cobb, Lani F. Wu, Steven J. Altschuler
• Drug persistence - from antibiotics to cancer therapies.
  Current opinion in systems biology 2018 Kochanowski K, Morinishi L, Altschuler S, Wu L
• Modeling Cell-to-Cell Communication Networks Using Response-Time Distributions.
  Cell systems 2018 Thurley K, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• Enteroid Monolayers Reveal an Autonomous WNT and BMP Circuit Controlling Intestinal Epithelial Growth and Organization.
  Developmental cell 2018 Thorne CA, Chen IW, Sanman LE, Cobb MH, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• Sampling strategies to capture single-cell heterogeneity.
  Nature methods 2017 Rajaram S, Heinrich LE, Gordan JD, Avva J, Bonness KM, Witkiewicz AK, Malter JS, Atreya CE, Warren RS, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• Abstract 3950: A novel combination therapy targeting BCL6 and phospho-STAT3 defeats intratumor heterogeneity in a subset of non-small cell lung cancers.
  Tumor Biology 2017 Dhruba Deb, Satwik Rajaram, Jill E. Larsen, Patrick P. Dospoy, Rossella Marullo, Longshan Li, Kimberley Avila, Leandro Cerchietti, John D. Minna, Lani F. Wu, Steven J. Altschuler
• Combination Therapy Targeting BCL6 and Phospho-STAT3 Defeats Intratumor Heterogeneity in a Subset of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancers.
  Cancer research 2017 Deb D, Rajaram S, Larsen JE, Dospoy PD, Marullo R, Li LS, Avila K, Xue F, Cerchietti L, Minna JD, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF
• Chemoattractant concentration-dependent tuning of ERK signaling dynamics in migrating neutrophils.
  Science signaling 2016 Zhang ER, Liu S, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ, Cobb MH
• Examining Crosstalk among Transforming Growth Factor β, Bone Morphogenetic Protein, and Wnt Pathways.
  The Journal of biological chemistry 2016 Coster AD, Thorne CA, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• PHOCOS: inferring multi-feature phenotypic crosstalk networks.
  Bioinformatics (Oxford, England) 2016 Deng Y, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF
• Membrane Tension Acts Through PLD2 and mTORC2 to Limit Actin Network Assembly During Neutrophil Migration.
  PLoS biology 2016 Diz-Muñoz A, Thurley K, Chintamen S, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF, Fletcher DA, Weiner OD
• Diverse drug-resistance mechanisms can emerge from drug-tolerant cancer persister cells.
  Nature communications 2016 Ramirez M, Rajaram S, Steininger RJ, Osipchuk D, Roth MA, Morinishi LS, Evans L, Ji W, Hsu CH, Thurley K, Wei S, Zhou A, Koduru PR, Posner BA, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• Abstract B48: Homer3 regulates the establishment of neutrophil polarity.
  Immunometabolism and Immunoregulation 2015 Julie Wu, Anne Pipathsouk, A Keizer-Gunnink, Wynand Alkema, Fabrizia Fusetti, Shanshan Liu, Steve Atschuler, Lani Wu, Arjan Kortholt, Orion Weiner
• The Developmental Rules of Neural Superposition in Drosophila.
  Cell 2015 Langen M, Agi E, Altschuler DJ, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ, Hiesinger PR
• Homer3 regulates the establishment of neutrophil polarity.
  Molecular biology of the cell 2015 Wu J, Pipathsouk A, Keizer-Gunnink A, Fusetti F, Alkema W, Liu S, Altschuler S, Wu L, Kortholt A, Weiner OD
• On comparing heterogeneity across biomarkers.
  Cytometry. Part A : the journal of the International Society for Analytical Cytology 2014 Steininger RJ, Rajaram S, Girard L, Minna JD, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• GSK-3 modulates cellular responses to a broad spectrum of kinase inhibitors.
  Nature chemical biology 2014 Thorne CA, Wichaidit C, Coster AD, Posner BA, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• The evolution and development of neural superposition.
  Journal of neurogenetics 2014 Agi E, Langen M, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF, Zimmermann T, Hiesinger PR
• A simple image correction method for high-throughput microscopy.
  Nature methods 2014 Coster AD, Wichaidit C, Rajaram S, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF
• Rapid Analysis and Exploration of Fluorescence Microscopy Images.
  Journal of Visualized Experiments 2014 Benjamin Pavie, Satwik Rajaram, Austin Ouyang, Jason M. Altschuler, Robert J. Steininger III, Lani F. Wu, Steven J. Altschuler
• Rapid analysis and exploration of fluorescence microscopy images.
  Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE 2014 Pavie B, Rajaram S, Ouyang A, Altschuler JM, Steininger RJ, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• Identifying network motifs that buffer front-to-back signaling in polarized neutrophils.
  Cell reports 2013 Wang Y, Ku CJ, Zhang ER, Artyukhin AB, Weiner OD, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• Envisioning migration: mathematics in both experimental analysis and modeling of cell behavior.
  Current opinion in cell biology 2013 Zhang ER, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• The Zoo of Solitons for Curve Shortening in ℝn
  Nonlinearity 2013 Altschuler D.J., Altschuler S.J., Angenent S.B., Wu L.F.
• The zoo of solitons for curve shortening in On the occasion of Richard Hamilton's nth birthday.
  Nonlinearity 2013 Dylan J Altschuler, Steven J Altschuler, Sigurd B Angenent, Lani F Wu
• Abstract 5226: Understanding single cell variability in oncogene induced pathway aberration in lung cancer.
  Molecular and Cellular Biology 2013 Dhruba Deb, Satwik Rajaram, Jill Larsen, John Minna, Lani Wu, Steven Altschuler
• SimuCell: a flexible framework for creating synthetic microscopy images.
  Nature methods 2012 Rajaram S, Pavie B, Hac NE, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF
• Denial, acceptance, and loss of cell polarization for a stochastic model of positive feedback.
  The FASEB Journal 2012 Steven Altschuler, Sigurd Angenent, Sasha Jilkine, Lani Wu
• Dynamic information flow during neutrophil polarization.
  The FASEB Journal 2012 Lani Wu, Chin-Jen Ku, Yanqin Wang, Orion Weiner, Steven Altschuler
• Identification of F-actin as the dynamic hub in a microbial-induced GTPase polarity circuit.
  Cell 2012 Orchard RC, Kittisopikul M, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF, Süel GM, Alto NM
• Membrane tension maintains cell polarity by confining signals to the leading edge during neutrophil migration.
  Cell 2012 Houk AR, Jilkine A, Mejean CO, Boltyanskiy R, Dufresne ER, Angenent SB, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF, Weiner OD
• A density-dependent switch drives stochastic clustering and polarization of signaling molecules.
  PLoS computational biology 2011 Jilkine A, Angenent SB, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• Cellular heterogeneity: do differences make a difference?
  Cell 2010 Altschuler SJ, Wu LF
• ON IDENTIFYING INFORMATION FROM IMAGE-BASED SPATIAL POLARITY PHENOTYPES IN NEUTROPHILS.
  Proceedings. IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging 2010 Ku CJ, Wang Y, Pavie B, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF
• Heterogeneity in the physiological states and pharmacological responses of differentiating 3T3-L1 preadipocytes.
  The Journal of cell biology 2009 Loo LH, Lin HJ, Singh DK, Lyons KM, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF
• An approach for extensibly profiling the molecular states of cellular subpopulations.
  Nature methods 2009 Loo LH, Lin HJ, Steininger RJ, Wang Y, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• Only two ways to achieve perfection.
  Cell 2009 Artyukhin AB, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• Characterizing heterogeneous cellular responses to perturbations.
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2008 Slack MD, Martinez ED, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• An actin-based wave generator organizes cell motility.
  PLoS biology 2007 Weiner OD, Marganski WA, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ, Kirschner MW
• Image-based multivariate profiling of drug responses from single cells.
  Nature methods 2007 Loo LH, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ
• Systems-level analyses identify extensive coupling among gene expression machines.
  Molecular systems biology 2006 Maciag K, Altschuler SJ, Slack MD, Krogan NJ, Emili A, Greenblatt JF, Maniatis T, Wu LF
• Automated Multivariate Profiling of Drug Effects from Fluorescence Microscopy Images
  IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging 2006 Loo, L.H., Wu, L., Altschuler, S.J.
• Genome-scale identification of nucleosome positions in S. cerevisiae.
  Science (New York, N.Y.) 2005 Yuan GC, Liu YJ, Dion MF, Slack MD, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ, Rando OJ
• Genomic characterization reveals a simple histone H4 acetylation code.
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2005 Dion MF, Altschuler SJ, Wu LF, Rando OJ
• A panoramic view of yeast noncoding RNA processing.
  Cell 2003 Peng WT, Robinson MD, Mnaimneh S, Krogan NJ, Cagney G, Morris Q, Davierwala AP, Grigull J, Yang X, Zhang W, Mitsakakis N, Ryan OW, Datta N, Jojic V, Pal C, Canadien V, Richards D, Beattie B, Wu LF, …
• Spontaneous cell polarization through actomyosin-based delivery of the Cdc42 GTPase.
  Science (New York, N.Y.) 2003 Wedlich-Soldner R, Altschuler S, Wu L, Li R
• Large-scale prediction of Saccharomyces cerevisiae gene function using overlapping transcriptional clusters.
  Nature genetics 2002 Wu LF, Hughes TR, Davierwala AP, Robinson MD, Stoughton R, Altschuler SJ
• Experimental annotation of the human genome using microarray technology.
  Nature 2001 Shoemaker DD, Schadt EE, Armour CD, He YD, Garrett-Engele P, McDonagh PD, Loerch PM, Leonardson A, Lum PY, Cavet G, Wu LF, Altschuler SJ, Edwards S, King J, Tsang JS, Schimmack G, Schelter JM, Koch J,…
• On deforming confoliations
  Journal of Differential Geometry 2000 Altschuler, S.J., Wu, L.F.
• On deforming confoliations.
  Journal of Differential Geometry 2000 Steven J. Altschuler, Lani F. Wu
• Proceedings of the ICSLP
  Speech/Noise Separation Using Two Microphones and a VQ Model of Speech Signals 2000 Acero, A., Altschuler S.J., Wu L.F
• Translating surfaces of the non-parametric mean curvature flow with prescribed contact angle
  Calc. Var. Partial Diff. Eq. 1994 Altschuler, S.J., Wu, L.F.
• A new result for the porous medium equation on R2 derived from the Ricci flow
  Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 1993 Wu, L.F.
• Convergence to translating solitons for a class of quasilinear parabolic boundary problems
  Math. Annalen 1993 Altschuler, S.J., Wu, L.F.
• The Ricci Flow on complete R2
  Comm. in Analysis and Geometry 1993 Wu, L.F
• The Ricci Flow on 2-orbifolds with positive curvature
  Journal of Differential Geometry 1991 Wu, L.F
• The Ricci Flow on compact 2-orbifolds with curvature negative somewhere
  Communications on Pure and Applied Mathematics 1991 Chow, B., Wu, L.F