# Xuejun Jiang
Xuejun Jiang is a cell biologist at the Sloan Kettering Institute, part of [Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center](https://www.edgepedia.org/memorial-sloan-kettering-cancer-center) (MSKCC) in New York, whose laboratory studies programmed cell death, including apoptosis and ferroptosis (iron-dependent cell death caused by lipid destruction), and autophagy in cancer.[1](https://www.mskcc.org/research/ski/labs/xuejun-jiang) He is known for work that established the ubiquitin ligase NEDD4-1 as a regulator of the tumor suppressor PTEN.[2](https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(06)01548-0)
| Key facts | |
|---|---|
| Field | Cell biology of programmed cell death, autophagy, and cancer[1](https://www.mskcc.org/research/ski/labs/xuejun-jiang) |
| Position | Cell Biology Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Virginia and Daniel K. Ludwig Chair Professor[3](https://www.sloankettering.edu/research-areas/labs/xuejun-jiang) |
| Training | BS and MA, Fudan University; PhD in pharmacology, UT Southwestern Medical Center (1999), with Paul Sternweis[4](https://www.mskcc.org/research/ski/meet-researchers/xuejun-jiang-work) • [5](https://life.ecnu.edu.cn/f7/c9/c18137a194505/page.htm) |
| Postdoctoral work | Cell death, in the laboratory of Xiaodong Wang[4](https://www.mskcc.org/research/ski/meet-researchers/xuejun-jiang-work) |
| Signature work | "Ferroptosis surveillance independent of GPX4 and differentially regulated by sex hormones", *Cell*, 2023[6](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10330611/) |
| Major funding | NIH National Cancer Institute R01 awards on ferroptosis (2017-2022) and autophagy (2013-2023), as listed in Xuejun Jiang's account |[7](https://grantome.com/grant/NIH/R01-CA204232-01A1) • [8](https://grantome.com/index.php/grant/NIH/R01-CA166413-08)
## Education and career
Jiang spent seven years at [Fudan University](https://www.edgepedia.org/fudan-university) in Shanghai, earning both his bachelor's and master's degrees in biology; an East China Normal University seminar biography gives the master's year as 1993, in biochemistry.[4](https://www.mskcc.org/research/ski/meet-researchers/xuejun-jiang-work) • [5](https://life.ecnu.edu.cn/f7/c9/c18137a194505/page.htm) He earned his PhD in pharmacology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas in 1999, working with molecular pharmacologist [Paul Sternweis](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-c-sternweis) on signal transduction, and remained there for postdoctoral work.[4](https://www.mskcc.org/research/ski/meet-researchers/xuejun-jiang-work) • [5](https://life.ecnu.edu.cn/f7/c9/c18137a194505/page.htm) For his postdoctoral training he chose cell death, in the laboratory of the biochemist [Xiaodong Wang](https://www.edgepedia.org/xiaodong-wang).[4](https://www.mskcc.org/research/ski/meet-researchers/xuejun-jiang-work)
According to an ECNU seminar notice, he moved to MSKCC's Cell Biology department as a research assistant in 2003, and in 2004 joined the Sloan Kettering Institute to head his own laboratory.[5](https://life.ecnu.edu.cn/f7/c9/c18137a194505/page.htm) The seminar biography records promotion to associate professor in 2009, with a concurrent appointment at Cornell University's Weill Medical College, and to full professor in 2013.[5](https://life.ecnu.edu.cn/f7/c9/c18137a194505/page.htm) He holds the Virginia and Daniel K. Ludwig Chair Professorship.[3](https://www.sloankettering.edu/research-areas/labs/xuejun-jiang)
## Research on PTEN and ubiquitin signaling
His 2007 *Cell* paper showed that the level of the PTEN tumor suppressor protein is regulated by ubiquitin-mediated proteasomal degradation, and identified the HECT-domain protein NEDD4-1 as PTEN's ubiquitin ligase.[2](https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(06)01548-0) In a mouse cancer model and multiple human cancer samples where the genetic background of PTEN was normal but its protein levels were low, NEDD4-1 was highly expressed, and eliminating NEDD4-1 expression inhibited xenotransplanted tumor growth in a PTEN-dependent manner.[2](https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(06)01548-0) By 2008 his laboratory had identified two enzymes that negatively regulate PTEN's tumor-suppressing function, which he was exploring as cancer-therapy targets.[4](https://www.mskcc.org/research/ski/meet-researchers/xuejun-jiang-work)
## Ferroptosis research
His 2019 *Nature* paper showed that ferroptosis can be regulated non-cell-autonomously, by cadherin-mediated intercellular interactions that suppress the ferroptosis-promoting protein YAP through NF2 and Hippo signaling.[9](https://www.columbia.edu/cu/biology/StockwellLab/index/publications/Wu_2019_Nature_NF2-YAP.pdf) When this signaling axis is antagonized, YAP promotes ferroptosis by upregulating modulators including ACSL4 and [TFRC](https://www.edgepedia.org/tfrc), and genetic inactivation of NF2, a frequent tumorigenic event in mesothelioma, rendered cancer cells more sensitive to ferroptosis in an orthotopic mouse model of malignant mesothelioma.[9](https://www.columbia.edu/cu/biology/StockwellLab/index/publications/Wu_2019_Nature_NF2-YAP.pdf)
His 2023 *Cell* paper, through a whole-genome [CRISPR activation](https://www.edgepedia.org/crispr-activation) screen, identified the phospholipid-modifying enzymes MBOAT1 and MBOAT2 as ferroptosis suppressors whose surveillance function is independent of GPX4 or FSP1.[6](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10330611/) MBOAT1 and MBOAT2 inhibit ferroptosis by remodeling the cellular phospholipid profile, and are transcriptionally upregulated by the sex hormone receptors estrogen receptor (ER) and androgen receptor (AR), respectively.[6](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10330611/) Combining ER or AR antagonists with ferroptosis induction significantly inhibited the growth of ER-positive breast cancer and AR-positive prostate cancer, including tumors resistant to single-agent hormonal therapy.[6](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10330611/)
Jiang co-authored the 2021 review "Ferroptosis: mechanisms, biology and role in disease" in *Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology*.[10](https://www.columbia.edu/cu/biology/StockwellLab/index/publications/Jiang_21_review.pdf) His 2022 *Molecular Cell* review is ["Ferroptosis at the intersection of lipid metabolism and cellular signaling"](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2022.03.022).[11](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2022.03.022)
## Representative work
"Ferroptosis surveillance independent of GPX4 and differentially regulated by sex hormones", *Cell*, 2023 ([doi:10.1016/j.cell.2023.05.003](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2023.05.003)), identified MBOAT1 and MBOAT2 as GPX4-independent ferroptosis suppressors upregulated by ER and AR, and showed that pairing hormone-receptor antagonists with ferroptosis-inducing treatment inhibited ER-positive breast and AR-positive prostate cancer growth.[6](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10330611/)
## Laboratory and training
The Jiang laboratory pursues three intertwined directions: the molecular basis of programmed cell death, including apoptosis and ferroptosis; the molecular basis of autophagy; and regulation of the tumor suppressor PTEN, which modulates both cell death and autophagy.[12](https://chembio.triiprograms.org/faculty-research/faculty-directory/xuejun-jiang-phd/) Its approaches combine biochemistry, chemical biology, proteomics, molecular cell biology, high-throughput screening, a 3-dimensional microfluidic cell array, and mouse modeling.[1](https://www.mskcc.org/research/ski/labs/xuejun-jiang) The lab trains graduate students through the Cell Biology Program, the Tri-Institutional PhD Program in Chemical Biology, and the Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.[3](https://www.sloankettering.edu/research-areas/labs/xuejun-jiang) • [12](https://chembio.triiprograms.org/faculty-research/faculty-directory/xuejun-jiang-phd/)
## Honors and funding
His honors include the Catherine and Frederick Adler Chair for junior faculty (2006), a V Scholar award (2004-2006), an Alfred Bressler Scholar award (2004-2007), the Louis and Allston Boyer Young Investigator Award for Basic Research at MSKCC (2007), an American Cancer Society Scholarship (2007-2010), a Sigma Xi Award at UT Southwestern (1998), and a Robert A. Welch Predoctoral Fellowship (1995-1999).[1](https://www.mskcc.org/research/ski/labs/xuejun-jiang) The NIH National Cancer Institute has supported his laboratory with R01 awards including "Ferroptosis, Cellular Metabolism, and Cancer" (CA204232, 2017-02-01 to 2022-01-31)[7](https://grantome.com/grant/NIH/R01-CA204232-01A1) and, according to the grant record "Mechanisms and Function of Autophagy in Cancer – Xuejun Jiang," "Mechanisms and Function of Autophagy in Cancer" (CA166413, 2013-01-01 to 2023-12-31).[8](https://grantome.com/index.php/grant/NIH/R01-CA166413-08)
## References
1. The Xuejun Jiang Lab | Sloan Kettering Institute. https://www.mskcc.org/research/ski/labs/xuejun-jiang
2. https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(06)01548-0
3. The Xuejun Jiang Lab | Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School. https://www.sloankettering.edu/research-areas/labs/xuejun-jiang
4. At Work: Cell Biologist Xuejun Jiang | Sloan Kettering Institute. https://www.mskcc.org/research/ski/meet-researchers/xuejun-jiang-work
5. Xuejun Jiang: Novel Function and Regulation of the Tumor Suppressor PTEN (ECNU seminar notice). https://life.ecnu.edu.cn/f7/c9/c18137a194505/page.htm
6. Ferroptosis surveillance independent of GPX4 and differentially regulated by sex hormones (PMC). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10330611/
7. Ferroptosis, Cellular Metabolism, and Cancer - NIH R01 CA204232. https://grantome.com/grant/NIH/R01-CA204232-01A1
8. Mechanisms and Function of Autophagy in Cancer - NIH R01 CA166413. https://grantome.com/index.php/grant/NIH/R01-CA166413-08
9. Intercellular interaction dictates cancer cell ferroptosis via NF2-YAP signalling (Nature 2019, PDF). https://www.columbia.edu/cu/biology/StockwellLab/index/publications/Wu_2019_Nature_NF2-YAP.pdf
10. Ferroptosis: mechanisms, biology and role in disease (Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 2021, PDF). https://www.columbia.edu/cu/biology/StockwellLab/index/publications/Jiang_21_review.pdf
11. Ferroptosis at the intersection of lipid metabolism and cellular signaling (Molecular Cell 2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2022.03.022
12. Xuejun Jiang, PhD - Tri-Institutional PhD Program faculty directory. https://chembio.triiprograms.org/faculty-research/faculty-directory/xuejun-jiang-phd/
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Life and health scientists › Life scientists › Researchers in molecular and cell biology › Cell structure, physiology, and division*
*Initially written Sep 21, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 25, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Sep 25, 2026*
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