Hao Shao Associate Professor

Short biography

Dr. Shao completed his undergraduate study from School of Pharmacy at Lanzhou University in China, and received his PhD in medicinal chemistry with Prof. Peter Fischer and Shudong Wang at the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom. After completion of his PhD,Dr. Shao did hispostdoctoral training in Prof. Jason Gestwicki’s lab at University of California, San Francisco. He is currently an associate Professor in College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Southwest University.

Research interests

Research area: medicinal chemistry, biochemistry, chemical biology and pharmacology.

Dr. Shao’s research focuses on small molecule drug discovery for cancer through a multidisciplinary approach, including high throughput screening, protein biochemistry, rational drug design, organic synthesis and pharmacology,with an overreaching goal to develop drug-like compounds and evaluate their efficacy in pre-clinical models of cancer for the future translation to the clinic. The lab is currently interested in targeting cyclin-dependent kinases, molecular chaperones and AAA+ ATPases.

Selected publications

1.Shao, H., Taguwa S., Gilbert L.,Shkedi A., Sannino S., Guerriero C. J., Gale-Day Z. J., Young Z. T., Brodsky J. L., Weissman J., Gestwicki J. E.,and Frydman J. A campaign targeting a conserved Hsp70 binding site uncovers how subcellular localization is linked to distinct biological activities.Cell Chem. Biol.2022, accepted.

2.Shao, H.; Foley, D. W.; Huang, S. L.; Abbas, A. Y.; Lam, F.; Gershkovich, P.; Bradshaw, T. D.; Pepper, C.; Fischer, P. M.; Wang, S. D., Structure-based design of highly selective 2,4,5-trisubstituted pyrimidine CDK9 inhibitors as anti-cancer agents.Eur J Med Chem2021,214.

3.Shao, H.; Li, X. K.; Moses, M. A.; Gilbert, L. A.; Kalyanaraman, C.; Young, Z. T.; Chernova, M.; Journey, S. N.; Weissman, J. S.; Hann, B.; Jacobson, M. P.; Neckers, L.; Gestwicki, J. E., Exploration of Benzothiazole Rhodacyanines as Allosteric Inhibitors of Protein-Protein Interactions with Heat Shock Protein 70 (Hsp70).J Med Chem2018,61(14), 6163-6177.

4.Shao, H.; Gestwicki, J. E., Neutral analogs of the heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) inhibitor, JG-98.Bioorg Med Chem Lett2020,30(5), 126954.

5.Shao, H.; Li, X. K.; Hayashi, S.; Bertron J. L.; Schwarz, D.M.C.; Tang, B.; Gestwicki, J. E. Inhibitors of heat shock protein 70(Hsp70) with enhanced metabolic stability reduce tau levels. Bioorg Med Chem Lett 2021, 41, 128025.

6.Shao, H.; Oltion, K.; Wu, T.; Gestwicki, J. E. Differential scanning fluorimetry (DSF) screen to identify inhibitors of Hsp60 protein-protein interactions.Org Biomol Chem2020,18, 4157-4163.

7.Shao, H.; Shi, S. H.; Huang, S. L.; Hole, A. J.; Abbas, A. Y.; Baumli, S.; Liu, X. R.; Lam, F.; Foley, D. W.; Fischer, P. M.; Noble, M.; Endicott, J. A.; Pepper, C.; Wang, S. D., Substituted 4-(Thiazol-5-yl)-2-(phenylamino)pyrimidines Are Highly Active CDK9 Inhibitors: Synthesis, X-ray Crystal Structures, Structure-Activity Relationship, and Anticancer Activities.J Med Chem2013,56(3), 640-659.

8.Shao, H.; Shi, S. H.; Foley, D. W.; Lam, F.; Abbas, A. Y.; Liu, X. R.; Huang, S. L.; Jiang, X. R.; Bahrain, N.; Fischer, P. M.; Wang, S. D., Synthesis, structure-activity relationship and biological evaluation of 2,4,5-trisubstituted pyrimidine CDK inhibitors as potential anti-tumour agents.Eur J Med Chem2013,70, 447-455.

Full list: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hao-Shao-2

If you are interested to join the lab for a Master/PhD/Postdoctoral position, please send your CV to Dr. Shao (email: haoshaodream@hotmail.com).