Haifan Wu

Haifan Wu

Haifan Wu

Assistant Professor

Chemistry Department · Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

McKinley Hall MC 304 (Office) | MC 313/314 (Lab)
Main Campus

Academic Interests and Expertise

  • Postdoc (2015-2020) UC San Francisco
  • PhD (2015) University of South Florida
  • BS (2010) Nanjing University (China)

Areas of Research Interest

We apply a multidisciplinary approach to study protein misfolding and its biological consequences, with the ultimate goal of finding a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. Our research is at the interface of chemistry and biology using tools in synthetic organic chemistry, biochemistry, and biophysics.

Publications

  1. Dregni, A.J.;# Mandala, V.S.;# Wu, H.;# Elkins, M.R.; Wang, H.; Hung, I.; DeGrado, W.F.; Hong, M. In Vitro 0N4R Tau Fibrils Contain a Monomorphic β-sheet Core Enclosed by Dynamically Heterogeneous Fuzzy Coat Segments. PNAS 2019, 116 (33), 16357-16366. # equally contributed.
  2. Wu, H.; Saltzberg, D.J; Kratochvil, H.; Jo, H.; Sali, A.; DeGrado, W.F. Glutamine side chain 13C=18O as a non-perturbative IR probe of amyloid fibril hydration and assembly. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141 (18), 7320-7326.
  3. Acharyya, A.; # Ge, Y.; # Wu, H.; # DeGrado, W.F.; Voelz, V.A. Gai, F. Exposing the nucleation site in α-helix folding: a joint experimental and simulation study. J. Phys. Chem. B. 2019, 123, 1797−1807. # equally contributed.
  4. Yang, B.;# Wu, H.;# Schnier, P.D.;# Liu, Y.;# Liu, J.; Wang, N.; DeGrado, W.F.; Wang, L. Proximity-enhanced SuFEx chemical cross-linker for specific and multitargeting cross-linking mass spectrometry. PNAS, 2018, 115(44):11162-11167. # equally contributed.
  5. Wu, H.; Acharyya, A.; Wu, Y.; Liu, L.; Jo, H.; Gai, F.; DeGrado, W.F. Design of a short thermally stable α-helix embedded in a macrocycle. ChemBioChem 19 (9), 902-906.
  6. Dang, B.;# Wu, H.;# Mulligan, V.K.;# Mravic, M.; Wu, Y.; Lemmin, T.; Ford, A.; Silva, D.; Baker, D.; DeGrado, W.F.  De novo design of covalently constrained mesosize protein scaffolds with unique tertiary structures. PNAS, 2017, 114 (41), 10852-10857. # equally contributed.
  7. Stöhr, J.;# Wu, H.;# Nick, M.;# Wu, Y.; Bhate, M.; Condello, C.; Johnson, N.; Rodgers, J.; Lemmin, T.; Achyraya, S.; Becker, J.; Robinson, H.; Kelly, M.; Gai, F.; Stubbs, G.; Prusiner, S.B.; DeGrado, W.F. A 31-residue peptide induces aggregation of tau’s microtubule-binding region in cells. Nature Chemistry 2017, 9(9):874-881. # equally contributed.
  8. Wu, H.; Qiao, Q; Teng, P.; Hu, Y.; Antoniadis, D.; Zuo, X.; Cai, J. A new class of heterogeneous helical peptidomimetics. Org. Lett., 2015, 17, 3524-3527.
  9. Wu, H.; Qiao, Q.; Hu, Y.; Teng, P.; Gao, W.; Zuo, X.; Wojtas, L.; Larsen, R.; Ma, S.; Cai, J. Sulfono-γ-AApeptides as a new class of unnatural helical foldamer. Chem. Eur. J., 2015, 21, 2501-2507.
  10. Wu, H.; Li, Y.; Bai, G.; Niu, Y.; Qiao, Q.; Tipton, J.; Cao, C.; Cai, J. γ-AApeptide-based small-molecule ligands that inhibit Aβ aggregation. Chem. Commun., 2014, 50(40), 5206 – 5208.
  11. Wu, H.; Amin, M. N.; Niu, Y.; Qiao, Q.; Harfouch, N.; Nimer, A.; Cai, J. Solid Phase Synthesis of γ-AApeptides Using a Novel Submonomeric Approach. Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 3446-3449.
  12. Wu, H.; Niu, Y.; Padhee, S.; Wang, R. E.; Li, Y.; Qiao, Q.; Bai, G.; Cao, C.; Cai, J. Design and synthesis of unprecedented cyclic γ-AApeptides for antimicrobial development. Chem. Sci., 2012, 3, 2570-2575.