Kerui Wu

Kerui Wu, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Nanoscience at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). He joined UNCG in August 2023 after completing his postdoctoral research at Wake Forest University’s Department of Cancer Biology as an NIH T32 Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Dr. Wu holds a B.S. in Clinical Medicine from Nanjing Medical University and a Ph.D. in Cancer Biology from Wake Forest University.

Research Interests:
Dr. Wu’s work focuses on:
- Designing synthetic cells to study biological processes and develop biomedical applications.
- Investigating immune regulation mechanisms in health and disease.
- Developing nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems for targeted cancer treatment.
- Understanding tumor microenvironment dynamics and metastasis pathways.

Recent Trends in Publications: His recent work explores mechanisms linking metabolic factors (e.g., BMI, nicotine exposure) to cancer metastasis, immunotherapy strategies targeting TUBB3 and MHC-I pathways, and exosome-based communication in tumor progression. Over 40% of his 2023–2025 publications address brain metastasis and immunotherapy innovation.

• Awards: DOD LCRP Concept Award (2024), Lung Cancer Initiative Innovation Award (2024), NC Biotech Flash Grants (2024), UNCG Internal Research Award (2024).
• Grants: NIH T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship (2023), UNCG Internal Funding (2024).

Labs/Teams: Leads a lab focused on synthetic cell engineering and tumor microenvironment research at UNCG’s Joint School of Nanoscience and Mathematics (JSNN).