Contact
Email: swu2@miami.edu
Roles
Professor of Clinical Pediatrics
Director, Neonatal Developmental Biology Laboratory
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Biography
Dr. Shu Wu is a Professor of Pediatrics and the Director of the Neonatal Developmental Biology Laboratory in the Division of Neonatology at the University of Miami School of Medicine. She obtained her medical doctoral degree in China, completed residency and chief residency training in the Department of Obstetrics/Gynecology at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Beijing, China from 1984-1989; a postdoctoral fellowship in basic science research at the Duke University Cancer Center from 1989-1994; a postdoctoral fellowship in basic science research at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences from 1994-1996; and pediatric residency and neonatology fellowship trainings at the University of Miami School of Medicine from 1998-2003. In 2003, she joined the faculty of Neonatology in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Miami School of Medicine. Since then, she has been working as an attending physician in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and conducting translational research in the areas of neonatal lung, brain, and eye injury. Her research findings were published in more than 50 peer-reviewed articles and three book chapters. She has received multiple extramural grants in supporting her research and she was the recipient of the Batchelor Award in 2008 and 2019. In addition to her research activity, she has mentored and co-mentored 30 Neonatology Fellows, Pediatric Pulmonary Fellows, Medical Students, as well as International Scholars. Among them, 4 of the Neonatology Fellows and 2 of the Medical Students have received Basic Science Research Awards at the Pediatric Society Research Conferences in the last ten years. -
Education & Training
Education
Post Graduate Training
Licensures and Certifications
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Teaching Interests
I am an attending physician in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Jackson Memorial Hospital/University of Miami School of Medicine. I teach neonatology fellows, pediatric residents, and medical students at the patient bedsides and lectures and conferences. My interests are in neonatal respiratory failure, neonatal respiratory distress syndrome, pulmonary hypertension, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, cardiovascular hemodynamics, and congenital anomalies. -
Research Interests
As a physician-scientist, I have had diverse training in the medical specialties of Obstetrics/Gynecology, Pediatrics, and Neonatology, as well as extensive training in molecular and cellular biological research. My primary research interest is currently focused on the area of neonatal lung, eye, and brain injury. Thus, research in my laboratory is aimed at understanding the pathogenesis of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), a chronic lung disease, and its contribution to brain injury and neurodevelopmental impairment (NDI), and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in preterm infants. BPD and NDI are the most common and costly morbidities of preterm infants, and there are no effective therapies that can prevent or treat these two conditions. ROP is also common in preterm infants and can cause long-term vision impairment. We have identified a critical role for the inflammasome-caspase-1-gasdermin D (GSDMD) cascade in BPD, brain injury, and ROP in preclinical studies. Our research suggests a mechanistic role for GSDMD, a novel inflammasome-activated pyroptosis inducer, in mediating lung-derived extracellular vesicle (EV)-induced brain injury and ROP in neonatal rodent models. Furthermore, we have recently found that GSDMD gene knockout prevents hyperoxia-induced lung, eye, and brain injury in neonatal mice. Most recently, we have conducted clinical and translational studies to define the cellular sources of plasma and tracheal aspirate fluid (TAF) EVs and the role of EV-ASC (apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase recruitment domain), the central adaptor for inflammasome assembly in mediating lung-brain axis and lung-eye crosstalk critical to brain and retinal cell death, inflammation, and NDI. These studies are supported by an NIH R01 grant and Batchelor Award. -
Publications
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