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New UNLV professor Hui Zhang poses in a lab at UNLV Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012. Hui, a molecular biologist, is still unpacking at UNLV after five years at the Nevada Cancer Institute.
Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012 | 2 a.m.
Sun coverage
Hui Zhang loves Las Vegas.
The weather, the entertainment, the diversity — he sees potential in the city, and he loves that, too.
“People would be happy here,” he said in his office at UNLV.
Hui is a new face at UNLV. The biochemistry researcher and professor joined the staff in August after reorganization of the Nevada Cancer Institute, where he spent the past five years.
Hui’s pedigree includes research done during his postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School and as a Yale Medical School researcher and instructor.
As he readjusts to an educational environment, he’s already praising UNLV’s potential.
“They want to do something,” he said of his new colleagues. “They want to discover something.”
The goal, he said, is for UNLV to become a biomedical research institute. That’s where his work fits in.
Hui studies how cells divide, which has implications in cancer research. The cause is close to his heart. His father, a chain smoker, died of lung cancer.
Hui’s work is done at the molecular level and examines protein interactions.
“Work is done by proteins, so we need to understand what each protein does,” he said.
His research encompasses everything from cancer stem cells to gene modification.
Cancer stem cells give rise to tumors and can remain in the body even after a tumor mass has been eradicated. Even if a tumor is removed, a cancerous mass could arise in the same spot because those stem cells are still present, Hui said.
Understanding these cells, how they divide and the proteins involved can offer a better idea of how to target cancer with drugs, Hui said.
His work also looks at how the packaging of DNA — a human’s genetic code — can affect which genes are turned on or off. DNA is a long, narrow string-like object, which makes it hard to fit inside of a cell. Humans and many other organisms solve this problem by wrapping DNA strands around proteins to make the DNA more compact. These proteins act like spools while DNA acts like thread, winding around and around. Different biological chemicals can modify those proteins. The changes to the protein, in turn, may affect its interaction with the DNA wrapped around it, which could affect which genes on the DNA are expressed.
Hui said he’d like to pursue research on such modifications, which he says are important to a cell’s ability to faithfully copy its DNA before it divides to form new cells.
As UNLV attempts to bolster its research reputation, résumés and research like Hui’s are attractive to administrators.
“I’m a firm believer that an active researcher can give a better experience to chemistry students,” said Dennis Lindle, chairman of UNLV’s chemistry department.
Lindle said the department was seeking an impact hire — a researcher with a strong background, a grant and a good reputation — when candidates were interviewed in the spring. Hui fit the bill.
Daniel DiMaio, scientific director of Yale Cancer Center and a former colleague, describes Hui as dedicated and ambitious.
“He was here all the time, and he was a great person to discuss things with,” DiMaio said.
Hui said he wanted to focus on doing his part to help UNLV become a prolific research institution. He said Nevada deserved biomedical research as a new industry, but he doesn’t want to turn UNLV into Yale, Harvard or any other institution.
UNLV has a spirit of cooperation and a more relaxed environment than other institutions, Hui said.
Those factors must be accompanied by a larger investment in infrastructure and professors with the capability to bring in large grants if UNLV hopes to achieve its goals, he said.
“We need to have professors who are more capable of creative thinking and research,” he said.
Hui said the egos at larger institutions make for too much competition, but he thinks those institutions’ tendency to have evaluators constantly seeking talented researchers and worthwhile projects is needed at UNLV.
“We do need to get the leadership to evaluate what our research capability is,” he said.
Creating a biomedical research hub in Las Vegas, to Hui, means melding the best of the university and the city.
“How about the concept of getting entertainment and good health care together?” he asked.
He said he thought it would be possible to love Las Vegas for its research, just as it is for its world-class entertainment offerings.
“You should have big visions,” Hui said.
Hope UNLV can get some benefactors with hefty pocketbooks, and some research grants from private special interest entities.
I wouldn't count on the same relaxed atmosphere to remain for long. Competition in research changes things.
Congratulations to UNLV for securing a visionary such as Dr. Hui. I sincerely hope more attention is paid to his desires to enhance the research capabilities and to realize the full potential this would mean for Las Vegas, let alone humanity.
Thank you Dr. Hui for your dedication. I just recently lost my beloved sister to breast cancer and sincerely hope you and your colleagues erradicate this horrific killer.
On another note: I can't help but imagine what Dr. Hui would be able to accomplish had Steve Wynn given the $135 million to him and UNLV instead of the COMMUNINST Chinese University of Maccau. Or, the millions that Adelson poured into the GOP to buy this election.
Such are the constrasts of Las Vegas and Las Vegans with hefty pocketbooks and no shame.
Let's hope that changes, bobthebuilder.
Great article, Sun. Good luck this doctor and to UNLV.
bobthebuilder: the next time you or a relative is hospitalized, do you really believe that the UNLV educated registered nurse who takes care of you was just handed a diploma for showing up?
AJ, you make some very pertinent remarks about the contributions that have been made in China and the GOP.
It seems to me from things I've read, both could be classified more like veiled bribes, rather than contributions.
The cost of doing casino/hotel business, and amassing more wealth and power! Ethics only seem to apply to politicians, not those who give them money.
I think the days of using money to benefit humanity may be on the way out.
bobthebuilder,
Isn't the responsibility of the student to find the college or university that best fits their goals?
UNLV serves the community, so it isn't unusual that they have courses related to where the jobs are.
However, they also have other degree courses in nursing, which is meant to address a shortage of nurses in the LV valley.
The current recession has caused program cuts due to budget reductions. The answer is to get people back to work in NV, not out of state. That will help us move back to a productive local economy and more options in UNLV and other colleges in So. NV.
There are other issues, like fair distribution of taxes between No and So NV, that need to be dealt with.
There are issues of giving tax deals to attract businesses. How long does that go on? Along with that is the issue of educating and training locals to work in businesses that requires more scientific and technical knowledge, so we have local people who are able to work in new businesses and industries.
When will gold and silver mining be required to meet their share of the States needs in taxes. They are removing non-renewable resources from the state. When it is gone, it is gone, and so are the potential taxes to pay NV for extraction of its precious metal resources.
We very much need to expand our economic base away form only the hospitality industry.
There are so many demands and expectations now when we are still in a recession. It isn't going to happen until we move back to a stable economy, say in 10-20 years.
We all have to do the best we can with what we have, or find a way better our plight.
Kirk Kerkorian donated $200 million to UCLA via his Lincy Foundation in Feb 2011. Wynn, Adelson, Kerkorian and the moguls of Las Vegas Blvd. come here to make money and take it somewhere else. Big money is for buying elections to make more money. No education is needed to carry a rifle.
They also complain about the taxes they have to pay to pave the streets and use the water to make money. That's how I vote.
@peacelily: the time it took to address bobthebuilder, is time you'll never be able to add back to your life; but other than that, your post was a well reasoned, informed, and well articulated. But it must be said, it is not an idea that is new to southern Nevada, but it is an idea that has been an anathema not only to some of the trolls commenting on this site, but also to the trolls that control this valley ( see an incomplete, but informative list by SunJon).