Hanlin Tao is a molecular biologist and pharmacologist. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from the Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology Program at Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He is currently a Postdoctoral fellow at Dr. Shengkan Victor Jin’s lab. His research focuses on the development of safe small-molecular mitochondrial uncouplers for treating human diseases. He is a co-inventor of new classes of safe small-molecule mitochondrial uncouplers for therapeutic development.
Mitochondrial uncoupling occurs naturally in mammals, induced by mitochondrial uncoupler proteins. Small-molecule mitochondrial uncoupler mimics the function of uncoupler proteins, competes with the ATP synthase to shuttle protons across the mitochondrial inner membrane, thus decreases the efficiency of ATP synthesis and leads to metabolic alteration. It provides effective means for burning excess fat calories, for consuming cellular metabolites otherwise used for cell proliferation, and for cell protection against oxidative stress. The research has identified new classes of uncouples, which exhibited good efficacy and toxicology profile in animal models and are promising for translational development.
Selected Publication:
Tao, H., Zhang, Y., Zeng, X., Shulman, G.I. and Jin, S., 2014. Niclosamide ethanolamine–induced mild mitochondrial uncoupling improves diabetic symptoms in mice. Nature medicine, 20(11), pp.1263-1269.