Yumeng Mao

Uppsala University

Key Publications
Epigenetic regulation of cell state by H2AFY governs immunogenicity in high-risk neuroblastoma.
The Journal of clinical investigation, 2024
Loss of NEDD8 in cancer cells causes vulnerability to immune checkpoint blockade in triple-negative breast cancer
Nature Communications, 2024
NEDD8 loss causes cancer vulnerability to immune checkpoint blockade in triple-negative breast cancer
2024
Discovery and characterisation of quinazolines and 8-Azaquinazolines as NLRP3 agonists with oral bioavailability in mice
Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 2023
IL-1 receptor–associated kinase-3 acts as an immune checkpoint in myeloid cells to limit cancer immunotherapy
Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2023

Research interests

The research group aims to uncover mechanistic insights of immune suppression mediated by solid tumors. There are three research lines: 

  1. We utilize genome-wide CRISPR screens to reveal cancer intrinsic resistance mechanisms to immunotherapy.
  2. We dissect tumor-driven immune suppressive mechanisms in the innate immune system.
  3. We take advantage of the academic drug discovery capabilities at SciLifeLab to translate our novel discoveries to early-stage drug discovery projects.

We have over 15 years of experience in experimental models for cancer/immune interplay. Currently, we are developing new capabilities and data analysis pipelines using scRNA-seq and spatial transcriptomics, in order to generate deep understanding of the tumor micro-environment in human tumors and mouse models. 

We are most interested in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), high-risk childhood neuroblastoma and immune resistant melanoma.

The Mao group is generously supported by the SciLifeLab Fellows Program, Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF), Swedish Research Council, Swedish Cancer Society (Cancerfonden), Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation (Barncancerfonden) and the Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology (IGP) at Uppsala University.

Group members

Vaishnavi Iyer, post-doctoral fellow (SSMF funded)
Irineos Papakyriacou, PhD student (neddylation)
Marta Rubies Bedos, PhD student (resistant melanoma)
Rebeca Tomás Parracho, PhD student (high-risk neuroblastoma)
Liam Patrick Alford, PhD student (innate immunity)
Yonglin Lu, research assistant (scRNAseq and spatial omics)
Eirini Voutsinou, Master student
Fatemeh Ranjbar, Master student

Contact

yumeng.mao@igp.uu.se

Last updated: 2025-01-08

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