Sheng Ding, PhD

Professor

Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry

Phone: +1 415 734-2717

555 Mission Bay Blvd South, Rm 001

San Francisco, CA 94158

United States

Links

Ding Lab UCSF Profiles

Affiliations

What I do

My research focuses on discovering and characterizing novel small molecules that can control stem cell maintenance, activation, differentiation, and reprogramming in various tissue types.

Departmental research area

chemical biology and medicinal chemistry

My research expertise

stem cell biology, Chemical Biology, Drug Discovery, medicinal chemistry, high-throughput screening (HTS)

Professional background

Biography

Dr. Sheng Ding is currently William K. Bowes, Jr. Distinguished Investigator and Professor at Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease, and Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California San Francisco. He obtained his B.S. in chemistry with honors from Caltech in 1999, and a Ph.D. in chemistry from The Scripps Research Institute in 2003. Before moving to Gladstone/UCSF in early 2011, Ding was an Assistant Professor and then Associate Professor of Chemistry at Scripps from 2003 to 2011. Dr. Ding has pioneered on developing and applying innovative chemical approaches to stem cell biology and regeneration, with a focus on discovering and characterizing novel small molecules that can control various cell fate/function, including stem cell maintenance, activation, differentiation and reprogramming in various developmental stages and tissues. Ding has published over 100 research articles, reviews and book chapters, and made several seminal contributions to the stem cell field. Ding is a cofounder of Fate Therapeutics and Stemgent.

Research keywords

Octamer Transcription Factor-3
Adipose Tissue, Brown
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
Culture Media
Cell Lineage
Neural Stem Cells
Fibroblasts
regenerative medicine
Stem Cells
cellular reprogramming
Pluripotent Stem Cells
Cell Transdifferentiation
Small Molecule Libraries
Myoblasts, Cardiac
Cellular Reprogramming Techniques

1.	40 Under 40 Emerging Leaders, San Francisco Business Times, 2012
2.	Transformative R01, NIH, 2010
3.	One of the Most Inspiring People in the Life Sciences Industry, Pharma Voice, 2010
4.	#1 of Top 10 Innovations, and Top 5 People in 2009, The Scientist Magazine, 2009
5.	New Faculty Award, California Institute of Technology, 2008
6.	Challenge Award, Prostate Cancer Foundation, 2008

Publications

Desai RV, Chen X, Martin B, Chaturvedi S, Hwang DW, Li W, Yu C, Ding S, Thomson M, Singer RH, Coleman RA, Hansen MMK, Weinberger LS. A DNA repair pathway can regulate transcriptional noise to promote cell fate transitions. Science. 2021 08 20; 373(6557).

Wilson JL, Cheung KWK, Lin L, Green EAE, Porrás AI, Zou L, Mukanga D, Akpa PA, Darko DM, Yuan R, Ding S, Johnson WCN, Lee HA, Cooke E, Peck CC, Kern SE, Hartman D, Hayashi Y, Marks PW, Altman RB, Lumpkin MM, Giacomini KM, Blaschke TF. Scientific considerations for global drug development. Sci Transl Med. 2020 07 29; 12(554).

Yang B, Tang S, Ma C, Li ST, Shao GC, Dang B, DeGrado WF, Dong MQ, Wang PG, Ding S, Wang L. Spontaneous and specific chemical cross-linking in live cells to capture and identify protein interactions. Nat Commun. 2017 12 21; 8(1):2240.

Wang C, Ward ME, Chen R, Liu K, Tracy TE, Chen X, Xie M, Sohn PD, Ludwig C, Meyer-Franke A, Karch CM, Ding S, Gan L. Scalable Production of iPSC-Derived Human Neurons to Identify Tau-Lowering Compounds by High-Content Screening. Stem Cell Reports. 2017 10 10; 9(4):1221-1233.

Nie B, Nie T, Hui X, Gu P, Mao L, Li K, Yuan R, Zheng J, Wang H, Li K, Tang S, Zhang Y, Xu T, Xu A, Wu D, Ding S. Brown Adipogenic Reprogramming Induced by a Small Molecule. Cell Rep. 2017 01 17; 18(3):624-635.

Mohamed TM, Stone NR, Berry EC, Radzinsky E, Huang Y, Pratt K, Ang YS, Yu P, Wang H, Tang S, Magnitsky S, Ding S, Ivey KN, Srivastava D. Chemical Enhancement of In Vitro and In Vivo Direct Cardiac Reprogramming. Circulation. 2017 Mar 07; 135(10):978-995.

Liu K, Yu C, Xie M, Li K, Ding S. Chemical Modulation of Cell Fate in Stem Cell Therapeutics and Regenerative Medicine. Cell Chem Biol. 2016 Aug 18; 23(8):893-916.

Cao N, Huang Y, Zheng J, Spencer CI, Zhang Y, Fu JD, Nie B, Xie M, Zhang M, Wang H, Ma T, Xu T, Shi G, Srivastava D, Ding S. Conversion of human fibroblasts into functional cardiomyocytes by small molecules. Science. 2016 Jun 03; 352(6290):1216-20.

Zhang M, Lin YH, Sun YJ, Zhu S, Zheng J, Liu K, Cao N, Li K, Huang Y, Ding S. Pharmacological Reprogramming of Fibroblasts into Neural Stem Cells by Signaling-Directed Transcriptional Activation. Cell Stem Cell. 2016 05 05; 18(5):653-67.

Zhang Y, Cao N, Huang Y, Spencer CI, Fu JD, Yu C, Liu K, Nie B, Xu T, Li K, Xu S, Bruneau BG, Srivastava D, Ding S. Expandable Cardiovascular Progenitor Cells Reprogrammed from Fibroblasts. Cell Stem Cell. 2016 Mar 03; 18(3):368-81.

Zhu S, Russ HA, Wang X, Zhang M, Ma T, Xu T, Tang S, Hebrok M, Ding S. Human pancreatic beta-like cells converted from fibroblasts. Nat Commun. 2016 Jan 06; 7:10080.

Tamer M Mohamed, Nicole Stone, Emily Berry, Haixia Wang, Sheng Ding, Deepak Srivastava. Abstract 11415: Enhancing Direct Cardiac Reprogramming Efficiency Using Small Molecules. Circulation. 2015 Nov 10; 132(suppl_3).

Kamola Saydaminova, Robert Strauss, Min Xie, Charles Dreshner, Sheng Ding, Andre Lieber. 458. Sensitizing Ovarian Cancer Cells To Chemotherapy By Interfering With Pathways That Are Involved in the Formation and Maintenance of Cancer Stem Cells. Molecular Therapy. 2015 May 1; 23:s182.

Mingliang Zhang, Ke Li, Min Xie, Sheng Ding. Chapter 4 Chemical Approaches to Controlling Cell Fate. Principles of Developmental Genetics. 2015 Jan 1; (Cell Stem Cell462009):59-76.

Yu C, Liu K, Tang S, Ding S. Chemical approaches to cell reprogramming. Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2014 Oct; 28:50-56.

Li K, Zhu S, Russ HA, Xu S, Xu T, Zhang Y, Ma T, Hebrok M, Ding S. Small molecules facilitate the reprogramming of mouse fibroblasts into pancreatic lineages. Cell Stem Cell. 2014 Feb 06; 14(2):228-36.

Zhu S, Ambasudhan R, Sun W, Kim HJ, Talantova M, Wang X, Zhang M, Zhang Y, Laurent T, Parker J, Kim HS, Zaremba JD, Saleem S, Sanz-Blasco S, Masliah E, McKercher SR, Cho YS, Lipton SA, Kim J, Ding S. Small molecules enable OCT4-mediated direct reprogramming into expandable human neural stem cells. Cell Res. 2014 Jan; 24(1):126-9.

Calvanese V, Chavez L, Laurent T, Ding S, Verdin E. Dual-color HIV reporters trace a population of latently infected cells and enable their purification. Virology. 2013 Nov; 446(1-2):283-92.

Fu JD, Stone NR, Liu L, Spencer CI, Qian L, Hayashi Y, Delgado-Olguin P, Ding S, Bruneau BG, Srivastava D. Direct reprogramming of human fibroblasts toward a cardiomyocyte-like state. Stem Cell Reports. 2013; 1(3):235-47.

Lin C, Yu C, Ding S. Toward directed reprogramming through exogenous factors. Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2013 Oct; 23(5):519-25.

Xu T, Zhang M, Laurent T, Xie M, Ding S. Concise review: chemical approaches for modulating lineage-specific stem cells and progenitors. Stem Cells Transl Med. 2013 May; 2(5):355-61.

Li J, Huang NF, Zou J, Laurent TJ, Lee JC, Okogbaa J, Cooke JP, Ding S. Conversion of human fibroblasts to functional endothelial cells by defined factors. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2013 Jun; 33(6):1366-75.

Ma T, Xie M, Laurent T, Ding S. Progress in the reprogramming of somatic cells. Circ Res. 2013 Feb 01; 112(3):562-74.

Zhang Y, Li W, Laurent T, Ding S. Small molecules, big roles -- the chemical manipulation of stem cell fate and somatic cell reprogramming. J Cell Sci. 2012 Dec 01; 125(Pt 23):5609-20.

Nie B, Wang H, Laurent T, Ding S. Cellular reprogramming: a small molecule perspective. Curr Opin Cell Biol. 2012 Dec; 24(6):784-92.

Liu K, Ding S. Target practice: modeling tumors with stem cells. Cell. 2012 Jun 08; 149(6):1185-7.

Xu T, Wang X, Zhong B, Nurieva RI, Ding S, Dong C. Ursolic acid suppresses interleukin-17 (IL-17) production by selectively antagonizing the function of RORgamma t protein. J Biol Chem. 2011 Jul 01; 286(26):22707-10.

Xu Yuan, Wenlin Li, Sheng Ding. Small Molecules in Cellular Reprogramming and Differentiation. Epigenetics and Disease. 2011 Jan 1; 253-266.

Hongyan Zhou, Shili Wu, Jin Young Joo, Saiyong Zhu, Dong Wook Han, Tongxiang Lin, Sunia Trauger, Geoffery Bien, Susan Yao, Yong Zhu, Gary Siuzdak, Hans R. Schöler, Lingxun Duan, Sheng Ding. Generation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Using Recombinant Proteins. Cell Stem Cell. 2009 Jun 1; 4(6):581.

Wenlin Li, Wei Wei, Saiyong Zhu, Jinliang Zhu, Yan Shi, Tongxiang Lin, Ergeng Hao, Alberto Hayek, Hongkui Deng, Sheng Ding. Generation of Rat and Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells by Combining Genetic Reprogramming and Chemical Inhibitors. Cell Stem Cell. 2009 Apr 1; 4(4):370.

Sheng Ding. A chemical approach to stem cell biology. Cell Research. 2008 Aug 1; 18(Suppl 1):s5-s5.

Yan Shi, Jeong Tae, Caroline Desponts, Heung Sik Hahm, Hans R. Schöler, Sheng Ding. A Combined Chemical and Genetic Approach for the Generation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. Cell Stem Cell. 2008 Jul 1; 3(1):119.

Simon Hilcove, Yue Xu, Sheng Ding. Stem Cell Fates: Control by Small Molecules. Wiley Encyclopedia of Chemical Biology. 2008 May 15; 1-8.

Julie Clark, Yue Xu, Simon Hilcove, Sheng Ding. Exploring Stem Cell Biology with Small Molecules and Functional Genomics. Chemical and Functional Genomic Approaches to Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. 2008 Apr 11; 187-206.

TOM Y-H. WU, SHENG DING. 2 TARGET VALIDATION IN CHEMOGENOMICS. Target Validation in Drug Discovery. 2007 Jan 1; (Nat. Biotechnol.202002):27-39.

Shuibing Chen, Sheng Ding. GSK-3 and Stem Cells. Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 (GSK-3) and Its Inhibitors. 2006 Oct 23; 155-171.

Masaki Warashina, Kyung Hoon Min, Tomoko Kuwabara, Alexis Huynh, Fred H. Gage, Peter G. Schultz, Sheng Ding. A Synthetic Small Molecule That Induces Neuronal Differentiation of Adult Hippocampal Neural Progenitor Cells. Angewandte Chemie. 2006 Jan 16; 118(4):605-607.

Jun Liu, Xu Wu, Brian Mitchell, Chris Kintner, Sheng Ding, Peter G. Schultz. A Small-Molecule Agonist of the Wnt Signaling Pathway. Angewandte Chemie. 2005 Mar 18; 117(13):2023-2026.

Tom Y. H. Wu, Peter G. Schultz, Sheng Ding. One-Pot Two-Step Microwave-Assisted Reaction in Constructing 4,5-Disubstituted Pyrazolopyrimidines. ChemInform. 2004 Feb 3; 35(5).

Sheng Ding, Nathanael S. Gray, Qiang Ding, Peter G. Schultz. ChemInform Abstract: Expanding the Diversity of Purine Libraries. ChemInform. 2002 Mar 12; 33(10):no-no.

Sheng Ding, Nathanael S Gray, Qiang Ding, Peter G Schultz. Expanding the diversity of purine libraries. Tetrahedron Letters. 2001 Dec 1; 42(50):8751-8755.

Peng CT, Yang ZC, Ding SF. Prediction of retention indexes. II. Structure-retention index relationship on polar columns. J Chromatogr. 1991 Nov 08; 586(1):85-112.

Peng CT, Ding SF, Hua RL, Yang ZC. Prediction of retention indexes. I. Structure-retention index relationship on apolar columns. J Chromatogr. 1988 Feb 05; 436(2):137-72.