David K. Ann

David K. Ann, Ph.D., serves as Dean of the Irell and Manella Graduate School of Biological Sciences and holds the Morgan & Helen Chu Dean's Chair at City of Hope, while also担任 Associate Chair and Professor in the Department of Diabetes Complications & Metabolism. His research is conducted at the Duarte Cancer Center in Duarte, California.

Dr. Ann's work centers on post-translational modifications in cancer biology, with groundbreaking research on arginine deprivation inducing chromatin autophagy in ASS1-deficient tumors—a mechanism bypassing apoptosis resistance through mitochondrial dysfunction, nuclear DNA leakage, and lysosomal degradation. Current investigations focus on metabolic stress responses, mitochondrial dynamics regulation via KAP1 Ser473 phosphorylation, and therapeutic applications for breast and prostate cancers.

Leading the Nutrition and Cancer Therapy research team, he develops protein-free arginine-deprived dietary interventions targeting tumor metabolism. His lab's discoveries reveal how nutrient restriction triggers chromatophagy and mitochondrial adaptations, providing novel strategies to overcome treatment resistance in metabolically vulnerable cancers.