Rice University has recruited computational biochemist Linna An to the Department of Biosciences with support from a $2 million award from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT).
An comes to Rice from the University of Washington’s Institute for Protein Design, where she helped pioneer new methods for generating synthetic proteins that act as biosensors — with potential applications in cancer detection, drug monitoring and personalized diagnostics.
“I am not a traditional cancer researcher,” An said. “My background is in biochemistry and computational protein design, and I work on creating proteins that can bind to and interact with small molecules, many of which play critical roles in the body, including in disease states such as cancer.”
An’s research harnesses deep learning methods to design proteins that can perform specific physiological functions, such as detecting chemical changes in the body — from drug levels to early indicators of cancer progression. In addition to protein-based sensors and binders for small molecules, An also works on computational enzyme design for drug synthesis and developing computational models for functional protein design. One of the goals of her work is to build new molecular sensing technologies.
“We can create proteins that turn sensing signals into easy-to-read signals, such as electrical signals,” An said. “If we then develop a way to embed these proteins into wearable devices, people could then monitor how well they are responding to a treatment from home, for example. This would be very useful in the context of cancer treatment, where most of the therapeutics used can carry some associated toxicity, thus requiring close monitoring.”
An plans to use synthetic proteins to map out what she calls the “metabolism landscape” of cancer — the complex array of small molecules involved in tumor behavior. While large-scale genomic and transcriptomic analyses have mapped out many aspects of cancer’s molecular dynamics, An’s work focuses on what she identifies as a gap in knowledge, namely the less understood cancer small molecule metabolism.
“We want to fill in that missing piece,” An said.
Small molecules can bind to proteins and take part in chemical reactions that proteins help speed up. As such, small molecules are involved in networks of biological changes that control all aspects of human physiology, including cancer development. Examples of small molecules include hormones, vitamins and more than half of the drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In the context of cancer, changes in small molecule metabolism can signal the stage of disease progression, exposing cancer sites and indicating treatment effectiveness.
An is already building connections across Rice and the Texas Medical Center. She said Rice’s research environment and proximity to the TMC were key factors in her decision to relocate to Houston.
“The scale of the TMC is impressive ⎯ having access to this ecosystem is an incredible resource for collaboration,” An said. “For my research, I need to be in a place with exceptional students interested in working at the intersection of biochemistry and computation, and colleagues who are likewise open to collaborations across disciplinary boundaries. Rice has all of that.”
The CPRIT award supporting An’s recruitment is part of a broader effort to bring top cancer researchers to Texas. Since its founding in 2007, the state agency has invested more than $3.9 billion in research and prevention and recruited over 330 scholars to institutions across the state. An’s appointment marks a strategic addition to Rice’s growing strength in computational biology and biomedical innovation.