Xunlei Kang, MD, PhD

Dr. Kang’s research is focused on blood-related conditions, including discovering novel therapeutic targets to treat acute myeloid leukemia, by identifying cell surface targets and related signaling and their roles in both normal hematopoiesis and hematological malignancies. He has a broad background in biomedical research, with specific training in small protein modification, cancer cell biology and cell signaling transduction. As PI on several university-, national association-, and NIH-funded grants, he laid the groundwork for the proposed research by developing effective compound screen assays, functional experiments in the evaluation of stem cells and powerful animal disease models on genetically modified mice to explore the mechanisms underlying human illness. In addition, Dr. Kang learned how to successfully manage the projects (e.g., staffing, research protections, budget), collaborate with other researchers, and produce several peer-reviewed publications on each project during a career of leading and designing research projects. From his previous experiences, Dr. Kang is aware of the importance of frequent communication among project members as well as constructing a realistic research plan, timeframe and budget. He has extensive experience in hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) and acute myeloid leukemia stem cell (AML-SC) research and cell surface receptor signaling studies.