Feng Shao

Feng Shao made the breakthrough discovery that gasdermin D is the executioner of pyroptosis, revealing that caspase-1/11 cleavage releases the gasdermin D N-terminal domain which oligomerizes to form membrane pores causing inflammatory cell lysis. His laboratory further showed that gasdermin E (GSDME/DFNA5) mediates chemotherapy-induced pyroptosis in cancer cells, converting apoptosis to pyroptosis and enhancing anti-tumor immunity. He demonstrated that GSDME expression in tumors predicts immunogenic response to chemotherapy and can be used as a biomarker for pyroptosis-based therapeutic strategies. His structural and mechanistic work on gasdermins has defined the molecular basis of pyroptotic cell death.