The Physiological, Pathological, and Therapeutic Implications of Anastasis - An Apoptosis Reversal Mechanism
As part of our Monday seminar series, we are delighted to welcome our speaker:
Talk title: The Physiological, Pathological, and Therapeutic Implications of Anastasis - An Apoptosis Reversal Mechanism
Dr. Ho Lam (Hogan) Tang
Associate Professor, Neurosurgery
John Hopkins University
Hosted By
Dr. Estelle Gauda and Atefeh Mohammadi
How to join
The event will be in person only, no need to register.
MSB 2172
Medical Sciences Building
University of Toronto
1 King’s College Circle
Toronto, ON M5S 1A8
If you have any questions about this event, please contact Debb Yorke at lmp.chairadmin@utoronto.ca.
Speaker: Dr. Ho Lam (Hogan) Tang
Dr. Tangis an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University with over ten years of research experience in cell, developmental, molecular, and neurobiology. His work primarily focuses on understanding the physiological functions, pathological roles, and therapeutic implications of cell death and survival.
Dr. Tang is renowned for his discovery of anastasis—a process he coined to describe the reversal of apoptosis. This groundbreaking discovery was made during his graduate studies in Dr. Ming Chiu Fung's lab, where he used time-lapse live-cell microscopy and biosensors to demonstrate that cells could reverse apoptosis after events long considered irreversible, such as cytochrome c release, caspase-3 activation, and apoptotic body formation (2009, 2012).
In his post-doctoral work in Dr. J. Marie Hardwick’s lab, Dr. Tang further advanced the concept of anastasis by providing the first in vivo evidence of its occurrence using transgenic CaspaseTracker biosensor fruit flies (2015). Since establishing his own lab in 2017, Dr. Tang has led innovative research in this area, publishing the first time-course whole-genome gene expression study for the molecular signature of anastasis (2017, 2022). His work has identified key regulatory mechanisms and druggable targets for reversing apoptosis (2018), and he has made further groundbreaking discoveries in cell death biology, including the reversal of ferroptosis, a non-apoptotic form of regulated cell death (2019), and the identification of small molecules to control this process (2021).
Currently, Dr. Tang and his team are developing in vivo biosensors for anastasis, identifying potential drug targets, and investigating the therapeutic consequences of anastasis in clinically relevant small animal models (2023, 2025). Through these efforts, Dr. Tang aims to uncover the natural regulatory functions of anastasis and leverage this knowledge for therapeutic intervention.
