Sui Huang

Professor
Institute for Systems Biology

Sui Huang, MD, PhD, studied medicine, molecular biology and physical chemistry at the University of Zurich, working on interferons in the 1990s. He was faculty at Harvard Medical School and the University of Calgary, investigating cell fate transitions and tumor angiogenesis before joining the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle as full Professor in 2011. Championing the embrace of complex systems theory in biomedical research, he demonstrated that stable phenotypes, such as cell types, naturally emerge from the collective action of many genes operating in gene networks. Continuing the tradition of challenging reductionist genetic paradigms, Huang’s current work at ISB uses single-cell omics, computational modeling, AI and non-linear dynamics to understand non-genetic behaviors of cancer, including the counterintuitive treatment-induced increase of aggressiveness in cancer cells. This fundamental phenomenon sets an efficacy limit that appears immanent to all modern cell-killing anti-tumor drugs. In this spirit, outside of academia, Dr. Huang advises start-up companies in the development of entirely new classes of cancer drugs, including endogenous immune modulators, gentle but multi-pronged systems approaches or shape-shifting peptide drugs.