Han Xiao

Associate Professor
CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research
Norman Hackerman - Welch Young Investigator
Department of Chemistry
Department of Biosciences
Department of Bioengineering

Education

Good Ventures Postdoctoral Fellowship (2015-2017) Stanford University
Advisor: Carolyn R. Bertozzi
Ph.D. in Chemistry (2015) The Scripps Research Institute
Advisor: Peter G. Schultz
B.S. in Chemistry (2010) The University of Science and Technology of China
Advisor: Liu-Zhu Gong

Awards and Honors

Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP) Breakthrough Award – Level 2, Department of Defense, 2021
Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award for Early Stage Investigators (MIRA), National Institute of General Medical Sciences, 2019
Hamill Innovation Award, Hamill Foundation, 2018
Norman Hackerman - Welch Young Investigator Award, 2017
CPRIT Faculty Recruitment Award, 2017
Good Ventures Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2016
Aldrich Alfred R. Bader Award for Student Innovation, 2014
Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad, 2013
Honors Degree in Physical Science (USTC), 2010
National Scholarship (MOE of China), 2008

Han Xiao is an Associate Professor of Chemistry, and Biosciences at Rice University. Han was born in 1986 in Changchun, Jilin, China. He obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) where he graduated with a B.S. in chemistry and an honors degree in physical science. He conducted undergraduate research in Prof. Liu-Zhu Gong’s group, focusing on organic methodology and synthesis of natural products. After graduating from USTC in 2010, Han joined the Ph.D. program at the Scripps Research Institute (TSRI). His thesis work with Prof. Peter G. Schultz focused on expanding the technique of genetically incorporating unnatural amino acids in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms and applying this technique for better cancer therapeutics. In 2015, Han joined the laboratory of Prof. Carolyn R. Bertozzi as a Good Ventures Postdoctoral Fellow of the Life Science Research Foundation at the Stanford University. In his postdoctoral work, he is engaged in the development of novel cancer immune therapy targeting the cell-surface glycans axis of immune modulation. Enzymatic precision glycocalyx editing is able to simultaneously stimulate immune-activating pathways and limit immune-inhibitory pathways within immune cells, thus leading to a promising avenue for cancer immune therapy. Currently，Han is an Associate Professor at Rice University in the Department of Chemistry. At Rice, the focus of his research is the development of various chemical biological tools allowing us to understand complex biology system as well as develop novel therapeutic strategies. His research combines elements from multiple disciplines spanning synthetic chemistry, chemical biology, molecular biology, cancer biology and immunology.