Biography

    Dr. Tao Wang received his Ph.D. in Biology from Nanjing University of Science and Technology in 2014. He joined CAM-SU GRC as an Assistant Research Fellow after graduation, where he became a member of one of China's leading research teams in chronobiology. He was promoted to Associate Research Fellow in 2023. Dr. Wang has served as Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on multiple national-, provincial-, and municipal-level research projects in life sciences and has participated in the National Key R&D Program of China. He served as Executive Secretary of the Chinese Society for Cell Biology (CSCB) Society for Biological Rhythms, where he was responsible for organizing international and domestic academic conferences, science outreach activities, research grant applications, and society administration (2015-2023). Since 2024, he has been serving as a Committee Member of the Sleep Biological Rhythms Committee of the Chinese Sleep Research Society.

Research Interests

       1. Circadian rhythms and metabolic homeostasis.

       2. Identification of therapeutic targets for metabolic regulation in cancer.

    Metabolism is tightly coupled with virtually all physiological and pathological processes at both the organismal and cellular levels. The spatiotemporal regulation of metabolic homeostasis is therefore one of the fundamental mechanisms required to maintain cellular and organismal health. Nuclear receptors are central transcriptional regulators within the metabolic homeostasis network, and numerous drugs targeting members of the nuclear receptor family have already been successfully developed and widely used in clinical practice. Therefore, elucidating how nuclear receptors coordinate metabolism with diverse physiological and pathological processes will not only advance our understanding of metabolic regulation but also provide a strong foundation for developing novel therapeutic strategies based on established nuclear receptor-targeting compounds, offering significant scientific and translational value.

    Dr. Wang's research focuses on nuclear receptors as key molecular entry points to investigate the coupling between circadian rhythms and metabolic homeostasis, as well as the regulation of cancer cell growth through nuclear receptor-mediated metabolic reprogramming. His long-term goal is to identify and develop therapeutic strategies targeting nuclear receptors for the intervention of circadian rhythm disorders and cancer. Part of his research has been published in leading international peer-reviewed journals. 

 Selected Publications

1. Baoshi Yuan, Kexin Shi, Juanmin Zha, Yujia Cai, Yue Gu, Kai Huang, Wenchang Yue, Qiaocheng Zhai, Ning Ding, Wenyan Ren, Weiqi He, Ying Xu*, Tao Wang*. Nuclear receptor modulators inhibit osteosarcoma cell proliferation and tumour growth by regulating the mTOR signaling pathway. Cell Death Dis. 2023 Jan 21;14(1):51. (Co-corresponding Author)

2. Kai Huang, Tao Zhang, Wenjun Zhang, Yue Gu, Pan Yu, Lanqing Sun, Zhiwei Liu, Tao Wang*, Ying Xu*. Multigenerational mistimed feeding drives circadian reprogramming with an impaired unfolded protein response. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2023 Mar 6:14:1157165.(Co-corresponding Author)

3. Wenhao Ge#, Tao Wang#, Yang Zhao, Yunxia Yang, Qi Sun, Xiao Yang, Yan Gao, Xi Xu, Jianfa Zhang. Period1 mediates rhythmic metabolism of toxins by interacting with CYP2E1. Cell Death Dis. 2021 Jan 12;12(1):76. (Co-first Author)

4. Tao Wang#, Zhongqiu Wang#, Ping Yang, Lin Xia, Mengyi Zhou, Shiming Wang, Jie Du, Jianfa Zhang. PER1 prevents excessive innate immune response during endotoxin-induced liver injury through regulation of macrophage recruitment in mice. Cell Death Dis. 2016 Apr 7;7:e2176. (Co-first Author)

5. Tao Wang, Ping Yang, Yibei Zhan, Lin Xia, Zichun Hua, Jianfa Zhang. Deletion of circadian gene Per1 alleviates acute ethanol-induced hepatotoxicity in mice. Toxicology. 2013 Dec 15;314(2-3):193-201. (First Author)

6. Juan-Min Zha #, Mei Zhang #, Tao Wang #, Hua-Shan Li #, Quan-Yao Ban #, Mei Liu, Xue-Xue Jiang, Shi-Ying Guo, Jing Wang, Ya-Ru Zhou, Yu-Hong Liu, Wei-Qi He, Hong Xu. Association of Overweight and Inflammatory Indicators with Breast Cancer: A Cross-Sectional Study in Chinese Women. Int J Womens Health. 2024 May 6:16:783-795.

7. Yizhun Zeng, Xiaopeng Song, Qi Chen, Yue Gu, Jie Zhang, Tao Zhou, Zhihao Li, Tao Wang, Le Chang, Hongwei Yao, Yan Wang, Liyan Miao, Liujia Qian, Tiannan Guo, Yong Zhang, Sonia Rodriguez-Fernandez, Antonio Vidal-Puig, Ying Xu. The suprachiasmatic nucleus regulates brown fat thermogenesis in male mice through an adrenergic receptor ADRB3-S100B signaling pathway. PLoS Biol. 2025 Dec 4;23(12):e3003534.

8. Yang An, Baoshi Yuan, Pancheng Xie, Yue Gu, Zhiwei Liu, Tao Wang, Zhihao Li, Ying Xu, Yi Liu. Decoupling PER phosphorylation, stability and rhythmic expression from circadian clock function by abolishing PER-CK1 interaction. Nat Commun. 2022 Jul 9.

9. Pan Zhuang, Yuqi Wu, Jianxin Yao, Xiaohui Liu, Haoyin Liu, Xuzhi Wan, Wei Jia, Tao Wang, Yu Zhang, Jingjing Jiao. Marine n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids slow sleep impairment progression by regulating central circadian rhythms in type 2 diabetes. Cell Rep Med. 2025 May 20;6(5):102128.