Amy Shiu Lee

Amy S. Lee
Amy Shiu Lee, 2013
Born
Guangdong, China
EducationUniversity of California, Berkeley
California Institute of Technology
Known forResearch on endoplasmic reticulum stress and GRP78/BiP
Awards
  • American Cancer Society Faculty Research Award (1983)
  • National Cancer Institute MERIT Award (1988)
  • Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2006)
  • USC Associates Award for Creativity in Research and Scholarship (2018)
  • USC Faculty Lifetime Achievement Award (2026)
Scientific career
FieldsBiochemistry
Cancer biology
WorkplacesUniversity of Southern California

Amy S. Lee is a Chinese-born American biochemist and cancer biologist. She has served as Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) from 1979 to 2025. Lee is best known for her pioneering research on endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and the discovery, regulation, and functions of the ER chaperone glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78), also known as BiP. Her work has been highly influential in elucidating the role of ER stress responses in development, cancer progression, therapeutic resistance, and viral infection. She served as Associate Director for Basic Research at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center from 1996 to 2019 and held the Judy and Larry Freeman Chair in Basic Science in Cancer Research. She has been Professor Emerita at USC since 2026.

Early life and education

Lee was born in Guangdong province in China, and grew up in Hong Kong. After high school in Hong Kong, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Bacteriology and Immunology from the University of California, Berkeley, graduating as valedictorian in 1970. She subsequently attended the California Institute of Technology, where she received a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1975.

Academic career

Following postdoctoral training and service as a senior research associate at the California Institute of Technology, Lee joined the Department of Biochemistry at the Keck School of Medicine of USC in 1979 as an assistant professor. There, she established a research program focused on mammalian stress responses and molecular chaperones. Over the course of her career, she held multiple leadership roles at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, including Director of the Gene Regulation Program (1987–1997), Associate Director for Basic Research (1996–2019), and Associate Director for Shared Resources (2020–2021).

Lee has also been recognized for her sustained commitment to mentoring graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty at USC.

Research contributions

ER stress and glucose-regulated proteins

Lee’s laboratory is the first to clone and characterize the mammalian genes encoding endoplasmic reticulum stress–inducible glucose-regulated proteins (GRPs). Her work helped define the transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms governing GRP expression and established ER stress responses as central regulators of cellular homeostasis during development and disease.

GRP78 in cancer biology

A major focus of Lee’s research has been the ER chaperone GRP78, which she isolated in 1980. Her laboratory demonstrated that GRP78 plays a critical role in tumorigenesis, metastatic progression, and resistance to cancer therapies. She also reported that under conditions of cellular stress, GRP78 can relocalize from the ER to other cellular compartments, including the cell surface, where it functions as a co-receptor in oncogenic signaling pathways. Additionally, her group provided evidence that stress conditions can promote nuclear localization of GRP78, where it influences gene regulatory programs associated with cell migration and invasion. These findings challenged prevailing models of protein compartmentalization and expanded understanding of noncanonical chaperone functions in cancer.

GRP78 and viral infection

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lee’s laboratory investigated the role of GRP78 in viral infection. Her group reported that cell surface–localized GRP78 functions as a host co-receptor for SARS-CoV-2 entry and that ER-localized GRP78 is required for efficient viral protein folding and production. This work suggests that targeting GRP78 could have therapeutic potential against both cancer and viral pathogens that exploit ER stress pathways.

Selected publications

Honors and awards

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Relations, Keck School Media (2015-03-12). "Faculty Spotlight: Amy S. Lee". Newsroom. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Faculty Spotlight: Celebrating the Career of Dr. Amy S. Lee" (PDF). USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. January–February 2025. Retrieved February 10, 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 lytal (2026-04-14). "USC honors Amy Lee's lifetime of scientific achievement in cancer and disease research". Newsroom. Retrieved 2026-05-03.
  4. ↑ Lee, Amy So-Ming Shiu (1975). The Cleavage of ɸX174 DNA with Restriction Endonucleases (phd thesis). California Institute of Technology.
  5. ↑ "Information for Students (1977-1978) | Officers and Faculty" (PDF). campuspubs.library.caltech.edu. California Institute of Technology. p. 76. Retrieved April 17, 2026.
  6. 1 2 Lee, Amy S. (2025-07-29). "Stress-induced translocation of the endoplasmic reticulum chaperone GRP78/BiP and its impact on human disease and therapy". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 122 (30) e2412246122. Bibcode:2025PNAS..12212246L. doi:10.1073/pnas.2412246122. PMC 12318151. PMID 40699920.
  7. 1 2 "Protein Found to Protect Breast Cancer". Los Angeles Sentinel. August 31, 2006. p. A14. ProQuest 369382672.
  8. ↑ Dacuma, Mary (2017-05-24). "The Secret to Combating Pancreatic Cancer May Lie in Suppression of a Common Protein". keck.usc.edu. Retrieved 2026-01-17.
  9. ↑ Abrams, Zara (2023-07-24). "Study finds new, unexpected mechanism of cancer cell spread". USC Keck School of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-01-17.
  10. ↑ Floersh, Helen (2023-07-24). "Cancer metastasis may be driven by a protein on the move: study". www.fiercebiotech.com. Retrieved 2026-01-17.
  11. ↑ "KSOM study reveals potential new treatment target in the fight against COVID-19". USC Keck School of Medicine. 2021-05-24. Retrieved 2026-01-17.
  12. ↑ Floersh, Helen (2022-11-17). "How COVID-19 and cancer could be treated with the same drug". www.fiercebiotech.com. Retrieved 2026-01-17.
  13. ↑ "Amy Lee, Eddie Sheh among honorees at Academic Honors Convocation". USC Keck School of Medicine. 2018-04-26. Retrieved 2026-01-17.
  14. ↑ "Amy Lee, PhD, Honored For Contributions to Biomedical Science". USC Keck School of Medicine. 2019-04-17. Retrieved 2026-01-17.
  15. ↑ "2019 Mark Brothers Award". USC Keck School of Medicine. 2019-09-27. Retrieved 2026-02-03.
  16. ↑ https://cellstressresponses.org/Special-Awards