Dr. Wu is the Charles Louis Mix Professor of Neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Wu’s research interest is in the area of post-transcriptional gene regulation and its involvement in human pathogenesis. Pre-mRNA splicing is a critical step in eukaryotic gene expression and a powerful mechanism for genetic diversity. Defects in pre-mRNA splicing contribute to the development of a large number of human diseases. Dr. Wu’s group is investigating mechanisms regulating pre-mRNA splicing and alternative splicing of genes critical for cell death and for neuronal function. Her team is focusing on the role of splicing defects in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases including frontotemporal dementia and retinal degeneration. Dr. Wu is also interested in elucidating fundamental mechanisms underlying tumor development and metastasis. Her recent discovery of the role of a neuronal migration cue in modulating chemokine activities provides new insights into the mechanisms regulating chemokine activation, establishing a fundamentally conserved mechanism for controlling cell migration among different cell types. Her laboratory is examining the role of neuronal guidance cues in tumor metastasis and exploring new approaches to inflammatory diseases.