UTMThe University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center · Microbiology & Immunology
Yu Lab
Dihua Yu · Houston, Texas
Research Focus
Dihua Yu's lab focuses on understanding brain metastasis, a serious complication for many cancer patients. The research examines how brain cancer cells interact with brain immune cells to improve treatment strategies. By studying these interactions, the lab aims to develop new therapies that can enhance immune responses and potentially improve survival rates for patients with brain metastases.
brain metastasisMHC-IILag3innate immunityepigenetic drugsimmune responsecancer therapymicrogliatumor microenvironment
Research Aims
3AIM 01Investigate the interactions between brain metastasis tumor cells and microglia during early stages of metastasis.
AIM 02Examine how MHC-II on brain tumor cells affects their growth and interaction with Lag3 on microglia.
AIM 03Test the effectiveness of epigenetic drugs in enhancing MHC-II expression to boost immune response against brain metastases.
Skills the Lab Values
cell cultureanimal modelsimmunohistochemistryflow cytometryRNA sequencingMRI imagingepigenetic modulationgene expression profilingwestern blotting
Output against the department
Publications552top 5% of dept.23rd of 486
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations30ktop 10% of dept.48th of 486
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.