Dr Youhua TAN
Associate Professor, Programme Leader (MSc in BME)
Department of Biomedical Engineering
- ST406
- +852 3400 8897
- youhua.tan@polyu.edu.hk
- Elucidate the roles of mechanical cues in tumor metastasis and develop novel mechanotargeting strategies for cancer therapy
ORCID ID
SCOPUS IDBiography
Dr Tan, Youhua, Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Dr. Tan obtained his Bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2005 from the University of Science and Technology of China and PhD degree in Biomedical Engineering in 2010 from City University of Hong Kong and University of Science and Technology of China, respectively. After completing the postdoctoral training in University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he joined the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University as tenure-track Assistant Professor in 2015 and promoted to be tenured Associate Professor in 2021. Dr. Tan’s research is to unveil the roles of mechanical cues in tumor metastasis and develop new mechanomedicine and mechanotargeting strategies. His research has demonstrated that: 1) microenvironmental softness elevates tumor cell stemness and tumor formation ability; 2) the softness/stiffness of tumor cells enhances/suppresses their self-renewal, tumorigenic, and metastatic potential; 3) the softness of malignant cancer stem cells can be harnessed in nanoparticle-based drug delivery for their specific elimination; 4) fluid shear stress in blood circulation eliminates the majority of circulating tumor cells while enhances the metastasis-initiating functions of the surviving cells; 5) the mechanical heterogeneity in the primary tumor instructs the metastatic tropism, where primary tumor cells in the soft/stiff niches metastasize to soft brain/stiff bone. The research findings have been published in a number of leading international journals, including Nature Materials, Nature Communications, Science Advances, Research, Oncogene, Nano Letters, Bioactive Materials, Acta Biomaterialia, Biophysical Journal, etc. His research has been supported by many external (HK$16 M) and internal (HK$7 M) grants.
Research Interests
Academic and Professional Experiences
- Ph.D. in Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Sep 2005 – Jun 2010
- Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, China, Sep 2001 – Jun 2005
Previous academic positions held:
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, Mar 2011 – Jun 2015
Present academic position:
- Associate Professor (Tenured), Department of Biomedical Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Jul 2021 – Present
- Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Jul 2015 – June 2021
Research Output
- Ying Xin*, Keming Li*, Miao Huang*, Chenyu Liang*, Dietmar Siemann, Lizi Wu, Youhua Tan#, Xin Tang# (2023) Biophysics in tumor growth and progression: from single mechano-sensitive molecules to mechanomedicine, Oncogene, Accepted.
- Xi Chen*, Zichen Xu*, Kai Tang*, Guanshuo Hu, Pengyu Du, Junfan Wang, Cunyu Zhang, Ying Xin, Keming Li, Qianting Zhang, Jianjun Hu, Zhuxue Zhang, Mo Yang, Guixue Wang#, Youhua Tan# (2023) The mechanics of tumor cells dictate malignancy via cytoskeleton-mediated APC/Wnt/β-catenin signaling, Research, Accepted.
- Siu Hong Dexter Wong, Bohan Yin, Zhuo Li, Weihao Yuan, Qin Zhang, Xian Xie, Youhua Tan, Nathalie Wong, Kunyu Zhang, Liming Bian (2023) Mechanical manipulation of cancer cell tumorigenicity via heat shock protein signaling, Science Advances, adg9593.
- Xi Chen, Yadi Fan, Jinghua Sun, Zhipeng Zhang, Ying Xin, Keming Li, Kai Tang, Pengyu Du, Yiyao Liu, Guixue Wang, Mo Yang#, Youhua Tan# (2021) Nanoparticle-mediated specific elimination of soft cancer stem cells by targeting low cell stiffness, Acta Biomaterialia, 135, 493-505.
- Siu Hong Wong, Xiao Xu, Xi Chen, Ying Xin, Limei Xu, Chun Him Nathanael Lai, Jiwon Oh, Wai Ki Ricky WONG, Xuemei Wang, Shisong Han, Wenxing You, Xintao Shuai, Nathalie Wong, Youhua Tan#, Li Duan#, Liming Bian# (2021) Manipulation of the nanoscale presentation of integrin ligand produces cancer cells with enhanced stemness and robust tumorigenicity, Nano Letters, 21, 3225-3236.
- Ying Xin, Xi Chen, Xin Tang, Keming Li, Mo Yang, William Chi-Shing Tai, Yiyao Liu, Youhua Tan# (2019) Mechanics and actomyosin-dependent survival and chemoresistance of suspended tumor cells in shear flow, Biophysical Journal, 116, 1803-1814.
- Youhua Tan, Arash Tajik, Junwei Chen, Qiong Jia, Farhan Chowdhury, Lili Wang, Junjian Chen, Shuang Zhang, Ying Hong, Haiying Yi, Douglas C. Wu, Yuejin Zhang, Fuxiang Wei, Yeh-Chuin Poh, Jihye Seong, Rishi Singh, Li-Jung Lin, Sultan Doğanay, Yong Li, Haibo Jia, Taekjip Ha, Yingxiao Wang, Bo Huang & Ning Wang (2014). Matrix softness regulates plasticity of tumor-repopulating cells via H3K9 demethylation and Sox2 expression, Nature Communications 5, 4619.
- Jing Liu, Youhua Tan, Huafeng Zhang, Yi Zhang, Pingwei Xu, Junwei Chen, Yeh-Chuin Poh, Ke Tang, Ning Wang, Bo Huang (2012). Soft fibrin gels promote selection and growth of tumorigenic cells. Nature Materials 11, 734-741.
- Research Grant Council General Research Scheme (RGC GRF) 2023: The resistance of circulating tumor cells to large fluid shear stress in hematogenous dissemination by reducing mechanosensitivity via myosin cytoplasmic redistribution, 01/01/2024-31/12/2026, HK$ 1,122,534, Project# 15227523, PI.
- Health and Medical Research Fund (HMRF) 2019: The roles of cell mechanics in targeting soft cancer stem cells and chemoresistance through nanoparticle-delivered drugs, 01/01/2022-31/12/2024, HK$ 1,255,000, Project# 18191421, PI.
- Research Grant Council General Research Scheme (RGC GRF) 2019: The resistance of suspended circulating tumor cells to fluid shear stress in hematogenous dissemination through Piezo1-YAP/TAZ-p73 signaling, 01/01/2021-31/12/2024, HK$ 873,995, Project# 15214320, PI.
- Shenzhen Natural Science Foundation Key Program (STIC：深圳市基础研究重点项目) 2020: Mechanical regulation of tumor metastatic tropism and the underlying mechanisms, 01/01/2021-31/12/2023, RMB 1,500,000, Project# JCYJ20200109142001798, PI.
- Research Grant Council Collaborative Research Fund (RGC CRF) 2019: Multi-scale spatiotemporal single-cell in-situ analysis: Mechanism and biomedical applications, 01/05/2020-30/04/2021, HK$ 2,349,052, Project# C5011-19G, Co-PI.
- Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission Basic Research (STIC：深圳市基础研究学科布局项目) 2017: Mechanical regulation of cancer stem cells and tumor progression and metastasis in hepatocellular carcinoma, 01/01/2018-31/12/2020, RMB 2,000,000, Project# JCYJ20170413154735522, PI.
- National Natural Science Foundation of China General Program (NSFC) 2016: Low cell stiffness regulates high tumorigenic and metastatic potential of hepatocellular carcinoma tumor-repopulating cells, 01/01/2017-31/12/2020, RMB 600,000, Project# 11672255, PI.
