Dr Paul Huang

Protein Networks Team

We use systems biology and engineering approaches to understand how protein signalling networks control cancer outcomes such as chemoresistance and tumour progression. The primary tool that our laboratory employs to map signalling networks is mass spectrometry – a powerful technique that allows for the unbiased identification and quantification of phosphorylation sites (phosphoproteomics) with exquisite sensitivity over a large dynamic range.

Through the integrated use of biochemistry, mathematical modelling and proteomics, we aim to:

1. Understand how signalling networks adapt to changes in their microenvironment.

2. Determine the mechanistic basis of signal integration downstream of multiple extracellular cues.

3. Explore how network information can be harnessed to develop novel therapeutic strategies for cancer.

Paul Huang is currently a Team Leader in the Division of Cancer Biology at The Institute of Cancer Research. Originally from Singapore, he received his BSc in Biotechnology from Imperial College London in 2004.  

He went on to do his graduate studies in Forest White’s laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he received a PhD in Biological Engineering in 2008.  It was at MIT that Paul was exposed to the power of applying engineering approaches to understand cancer biology and where he developed novel combinatorial approaches for the treatment of glioma – a deadly form of brain tumour.  

Building on this work, he joined the ICR in 2009 where he is currently an Institute Fellow and leads the Protein Networks Laboratory.  His research is focused on the use of systems biology and engineering tools to understand aberrant signalling networks in cancer with the goal of developing predictive network models for treating this disease.