Hai-Bin Ruan, PhD

Dr. Ruan received his Ph.D. in Genetics from Nanjing University in 2008. He then did his postdoctoral training at Yale University School of Medicine from 2009 to 2015. In January 2016, he started his independent research lab at the Department of Integrative Biology & Physiology of University of Minnesota Medical School.

• ADA Innovative Basic Science Award (2018)
• AHA Scientist Development Grant Award (2014)
• NIDDK Scholarship for Keystone Symposia (2008, 2011, and 2013)
• Brown-Coxe Fellowship (2010)
• Student of the Year, Nanjing University (2008)
• Nanjing University-BASF scholarship (2005)
• Distinguished Graduate Student of Nanjing University (2005)
• People’s Scholarship of Nanjing University (1999-2002)

American Diabetes Association, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Chinese American Diabetes Association, American Association of Immunologists

The research in my laboratory is directed towards understanding how environmental cues and intrinsic signals are integrated to regulate metabolic processes in health and disease. The Ruan laboratory currently conducts an integrated program in the following directions on tissue adaptation and remodeling upon metabolic stress: (1) protein O-GlcNAcylation in physiology and disease, (2) adipose Biology remodeling and energy balance, (3) intestinal epithelium at the interface between gut microbes and host physiology, and (4) immune homeostasis and its regulation of systemic metabolism. Using an integrative approach, we aim to define the pathological alterations of metabolic communication in diseases including obesity, diabetes, inflammation, and aging. Ultimately, we hope to identify targets and to design therapeutics for these diseases.

PubMed Link

Selected Publications:

• Zhang Z, Huang Z, Ong B, Sahu C, Zeng H, Ruan HB. (2019). Bone marrow adipose tissue-derived stem cell factor mediates metabolic regulation of hematopoiesis. Haematologica. Doi:10.3324/haematol.2018.205856.
• Liu B, Salgado OC, Singh S, Hippen KL, Maynard JC, Burlingame AL, Ball LE, Blazar BR, Farrar MA, Hogquist KA, Ruan HB. (2019). The lineage stability and suppressive program of regulatory T cells require protein O-GlcNAcylation. Nature Communications. 10:354.
  
• Zhao M, Xiong XW, Ren K, Xu B, Cheng M, Sahu C, Wu K, Nie Y, Huang Z, Blumberg RS, Han X, Ruan HB. (2018). Deficiency in intestinal epithelial O-GlcNAcylation predisposes to gut inflammation. EMBO Molecular Medicine. 
  
• Ruan HB*, Ma Y*, Torres S, Zhang B, Feriod C, Heck RM, Qian K, Fu M, Li X, Nathanson MH, Bennett AM, Nie Y, Ehrlich BE, Yang X. (2017). Calcium-dependent O-GlcNAc signaling drives liver autophagy in adaptation to starvation. Genes & Development. 31(16): 1655-1665.
  
• Ruan HB, Dietrich MO, Liu ZW, Zimmer MR, Li MD, Singh JP, Zhang K, Yin R, Wu J, Horvath TL, Yang X. (2014). O-GlcNAc transferase enables AgRP neurons to suppress browning of white fat. Cell. 159(2): 306-317.
  
• Huang Z*, Ruan HB*, Xian L, Chen W, Jiang S, Song A, Wang Q, Shi P, Gu X, Gao X. (2014) The stem cell factor/Kit signaling pathway regulates mitochondrial function and energy expenditure. Nature Communications. 5:4282.
  
• Ruan HB, Han X, Li MD, Singh JP, Qian K, Azarhoush S, Zhao L, Bennett AM, Samuel VT, Wu J, Yates JR, Yang X. (2012). O-GlcNAc transferase/host cell factor C1 complex regulates gluconeogenesis by modulating PGC-1? stability. Cell Metabolism. 16(2): 226-237.