Profile of Hao Wu

Abstract

Researchers’ understanding of cellular physiology has evolved over time with the identification of internal cell structures. Organelles, large and small, are key to cellular function and response to external stimuli. Harvard Medical School professor of structural biology Hao Wu, elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2015, uses protein structure determination to gain insights into immune signaling pathways that cells use to combat infections and internal dangers. This work has led to the identification of protein-rich, intracellular signaling complexes called signalosomes or supramolecular organizing centers (SMOCs) (1). This discovery filled the conceptual gap between classic organelles and more transient, stimulus-dependent molecular complexes. Wu’s Inaugural Article describes the assembly of a SMOC in the inflammatory pathway—an “inflammasome”—and provides insights into potential therapeutic targets (2). Hao Wu. Image credit: John Soares (photographer). Wu comes from a long line of academics and scientists. She was born in Beijing to physicist parents. Her grandfather, Chengluo Wu, was a chemist known for unifying weights and measures in China. During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, however, these academic qualifications became liabilities. Wu’s parents were remanded to the countryside to farm rice and raise pigs when she was 5 years old. Wu was sent to live with an aunt in northern China. “They really tried to shelter my brother and me from the political situation,” Wu says. After 2 years of exile, her parents were allowed to return to Beijing and the family reunited. Influenced by a biology teacher with whom she made short films that explored subjects like marine zoology and convinced by her mother, Wu decided to attend Peking Union Medical College, initially established with the help of the Rockefeller Foundation. Wu picked up an interest in photography during her premed years at Peking University, which primed her career. Wu researched the autoimmune disease …