Bowei Deng, a fifth-year PhD candidate in pharmacology working in the lab of Mark Lemmon, PhD, FRS, Alfred Gilman Professor and chair of pharmacology, co-director of the Yale Cancer Biology Institute, has received an NIH F31 Predoctoral Fellowship from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to support his doctoral research on ligand-induced epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) trafficking.
The fellowship will fund Deng’s thesis work investigating how distinct EGFR ligands shape receptor behavior inside cells—work that could deepen understanding of a pathway central to multiple cancers and to modern targeted therapies. EGFR is a receptor tyrosine kinase that helps regulate cellular proliferation, differentiation, and survival. When EGFR signaling becomes dysregulated, it can drive tumor growth across a range of malignancies, including lung, brain, and colorectal cancers.
Although seven endogenous ligands can activate EGFR, they do not all produce the same signaling dynamics or biological outcomes. This phenomenon—often described as biased signaling—remains incompletely understood. Deng’s project will examine the factors that control receptor endocytosis and the fidelity of downstream signaling.
“This research is significant because biased signaling mechanisms influence cell fate decisions and could be exploited by cancers to sustain proliferation,” Deng said. “Insights from this work could inform strategies to manipulate EGFR trafficking pathways, with implications for developing next-generation targeted therapies.”
The NIH F31 mechanism is designed to support promising predoctoral researchers as they develop rigorous, independent scientific training through mentored dissertation research. Deng’s award underscores the strength of Yale’s training environment in cancer biology and the continued impact of fundamental mechanistic work on the future of targeted cancer treatment.