The Methodist Hospital System. Leading Medicine

The Methodist Hospital Research Institute

Haifa Shen, M.D., Ph.D.

Haifa Shen, M.D., Ph.D.

Haifa Shen M.D., Ph.D.

Assistant Member
The Department of Nanomedicine
The Methodist Hospital Research Institute
Assistant Professor
Department of Cell and Developmental Biology
Weill Cornell Medical College

E-mail: hshen@tmhs.org
Phone: 713-441-7321
Fax:713-441-7438


Education

M.D.   Zhejiang University Medical School, Hangzhou, China
Ph.D.   The University of Texas at Houston, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences

Postdoctoral Training

Postdoctoral Fellow, National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD

 

Biography

Dr. Shen earned his M.D. from Zhejiang University Medical School of Hangzhou, China in 1985, and his Ph. D. from the University of Texas at Houston in 1997. After completing a four-year postdoctoral fellowship at the National Cancer Institute, he worked on drug development at Lexicon Pharmaceuticals. He returned to the University of Texas at Houston Medical School as an assistant professor before becoming a member of The Methodist Hospital Research Institute in 2010.

Description of Research

Dr. Shen's research team develops nanotherapeutics for the treatment of human cancers, with a focus on human breast cancer. His team is working with a multistage vector system with biodegradable mesoporous silicon microparticles for tissue-specific delivery of therapeutic agents and diagnostic imaging nanoparticles. A single dose of nanoparticles sustains release of therapeutic siRNA for up to three weeks, and as a consequence, can eliminate human breast and ovarian cancers in animal cancer models. Dr. Shen's team also researches pharmacodynamics, pharmacokenitics, and toxicity to expedite bringing effective therapeutic agents to the clinic. Future research directions involve targeting therapeutic agents to cancer stem cells.

Major Areas of Research

Cancer, nanoparticles, nanotherapeutics, siRNA, multistage vectors, drug delivery, sustained release, stem cells

Recent Publications

Fan J, Deng X, Gallagher JW, Huang Y, Ferrari M, Shen H*, Hu Y*.  Staging metastatic breast cancer on nanoporous silica chips. Phil. Trans. A RSC. Accepted. 2012. (* Shared corresponding authorship)

Shen H*, You J, Zhang G, Ziemys A, Li Q, Bai L, Deng X, Erm DR, Liu X, Li C, Ferrari M*. Cooperative, nanoparticle-enabled thermal therapy of breast cancer.  Adv. Healthcare Mater. 2012;1(1):84-89  (* Shared corresponding authorship)

Hu Y, Peng Y, Lin K, Shen H, Brousseau Iii LC, Sakamoto J, Sun T, Ferrari M. Surface engineering on mesoporous silica chips for enriching low molecular weight phosphorylated proteins. Nanoscale. 2010 Dec 7. PMID: 21135976

Grattoni A, Shen H, Fine D, Ziemys A, Gill JS, Hudson L, Hosali S, Goodall R, Liu X, Ferrari M. Nanochannel Technology for Constant Delivery of Chemotherapeutics: Beyond Metronomic Administration. Pharm Res. 2010 Jul 1. PMID: 20593302

Shen H, Suzuki T, Munroe DJ, Steward C, Rasmussen L, Gilbert D J, Jenkins NA, Copeland NG. Common sites of retroviral integration in mouse hematopoietic tumors identified by high-throughput, single nucleotide polymorphism-based mapping and bacterial artificial chromosome hybridization. J Virol. 2003; 7(2):1584-88

Suzuki T, Shen H, Akagi K, Morse HC, Malley JD, Naiman DQ, Jenkins NA, Copeland NG. New genes involved in cancer identified by retroviral tagging. Nature Genetics. 2002;32(1):166-74

Himmel KL, Bi F, Shen H, Jenkins NA, Copeland NG, Zheng Y, Largaespada DA. Activation of Clg, a novel Dbl family guanine nucleotide exchange factor gene, by proviral insertion at Evi 24, a common integration site in B cell and myeloid leukemias. J Biol Chem. 2002;277(16):13463-72

Dupuy AJ, Morgan K, von Lintig FC, Shen H, Acar H, Hasz DE, Jenkins NA, Copeland NG, Boss GR, Largaespada DA. Activation of the Rap1 guanine nucleotide exchange gene, CalDAG-GEF I, in BXH-2 murine myeloid leukemia. J Biol Chem. 2001;276(15):11804-11

Qi CF, Hori M, Taddesse-Heath L, Jenkins NA, Copeland N G, Shen H, Torrey TA, Hartley JW, Chattopadhyay SK, Frederickson TN, Morse HC. Diffuse large-cell and "true" histiocytic lymphomas of mice. Curr Top Microbiol Immunol. 2000;252:301-5