The Pigments of Life Laboratory

Hua Wang

Chancellor’s Fellow & Lecturer, University of Strathclyde
DPhil, University of Oxford (Oriel College)
BSc (Honours), Southern Connecticut State University

Background:

Tuberculosis (TB) is a global health emergency. In 2022, ~11 million fell ill from TB, resulting in over 1.3 million deaths (World Health Organisation). The WHO End TB Strategy aims to reduce TB deaths and incidence rates by 2035. Moreover, incidence of drug-resistant TB is on the rise, and non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) infections from environmental mycobacteria are becoming a growing public health concern worldwide. NTM are highly resistant to antibiotics and can cause infections and co-infections in immune-compromised individuals (Koh, et al., Microbiol. Spectr., 2017; Dahl, et al., Int. J. Infect. Dis, 2022). To address these challenges and achieve the WHO goal, we need to better understand how mycobacteria evade our immune system and cause the diseases.

My interdisciplinary research programme merges chemistry, microbiology, biochemistry, and immunology methodologies to study the molecular mechanisms by which mycobacteria acquire essential nutrients during infection, develop infection models, and explore bacterial enzymes for drug targets, vaccines, and biotechnology.

Publications:

Wang, H. “Leprosy Vaccines: Developments for Prevention and Treatment.” Christodoulides, M. (ed.) Vaccines for Neglected Pathogens: Strategies, Achievements and Challenges, Springer 2023, 47-69. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-24355-4_4.

Wang, H., Carvalho, L.P.S. Metabolomic profiling reveals bacterial metabolic adaptation strategies and new metabolites. Current Opinion in Chemical Biology 2023, 74:102287. DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2023.102287.

Wang, H., Fedorov, A.A., Fedorov, E.V., Hunt, D.M., Rodgers, A., Douglas, H.L., Garza-Garcia, A., Bonanno, J.B., Almo, S.C., Carvalho, L.P.S. An essential bi-functional enzyme in Mycobacterium tuberculosis for itaconate dissimilation and leucine catabolism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2019, 116, 15907-15913. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1906606116. This article was featured by the Faculty of 1000.

Dong, Y.*, Wang, H.*, Pike, A.C.W.,* Cochrane S.A., Hamedzadeh S., Wyszyński F.J., Bushell S.R., Royer S.F., Widdick D.A., Sajid A., Boshoff H.I., Park Y., Lucas R., Liu W.M., Lee S.S., Machida T., Minall L., Mehmood S., Belaya K., Liu W.W., Chu A., Shrestha L., Mukhopadhyay S.M.M., Strain-Damerell C., Chalk R., Burgess-Brown N.A., Bibb M.J., Barry III C.E., Robinson C.V., Beeson D., Davis B.G., Carpenter E.P. Structures of DPAGT1 explain glycosylation disease mechanisms and advance TB antibiotic design. Cell 2018, 175, 1045-1058.e16. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.10.037. *These authors contributed equally to this work. This article was featured by Chemical and Engineering News and by the University of Oxford.

Widdick, D., Royer, S.F., Wang, H., Vior, N.M., Gomez-Escribano, J.P., Davis, B.G., Bibb, M.J. Analysis of the tunicamycin biosynthetic gene cluster of Streptomyces chartreusis reveals new insights into tunicamycin production and immunity. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 2018, 62, e00130-18. DOI: 10.1128/AAC.00130-18.

Wyszyński, F.J., Lee, S.S., Yabe, T., Wang, H., Gomez-Escribano J.P., Bibb M.J., Lee S.J., Davies G.J., Davis B.G. Biosynthesis of the Tunicamycin Antibiotics Proceeds via Unique Exo-Glycal Intermediates. Nature Chemistry 2012, 4, 539-546. DOI: 10.1038/nchem.1351. This article was featured in News and Views in Nature Chemistry and by the Faculty of 1000.

Perspectives:

Wang, H. “Managing failures” The Francis Crick Institute, CrickConnect, The Francis Crick Institute, 2021.

Wang, H. “How my postdoc prepared me for setting up my own group” The Francis Crick Institute, 2019.

Wang, H. Book review: Extremophiles: Sustainable Resources and Biotechnological Implications edited by Om V. Singh, Phenotype, The Journal of the Oxford University Biochemical Society, Trinity Term, 2013, 25.

Wang, H. Book review: Discover the world of microbes: bacteria, archaea, and viruses by Gerhard Gottschalk, Phenotype, The Journal of the Oxford University Biochemical Society, Hilary Term, 2013, 29.

Wang, H. and Pfeffer, I. “Organising a conference from scratch – a student perspective” Phenotype, The Journal of the Oxford University Biochemical Society, Trinity Term, 2012, 26.

Interviews:

VALID8. VALIDATE Network, 2025.

World Leprosy Day – 27th Jan. 2019. VALIDATE Network, 2019.

Policy:

Realising Our Potential: Backing Talent and Strengthening UK Research Culture and Environment. The Russell Group, 2021.

Media:

Video produced by Blakeley Nixon, VALIDATE Network, 2021.

Patent:

“Tunicamycin Analogues” Wang, H., Davis B.G., Wyszyński, F.J., EP3634974, WO/2018/224822, US-10954262-B2.