Jason Mills, M.D., Ph.D.
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Jason Mills, M.D., Ph.D.
Herman Brown Endowed Professor
Positions
- Herman Brown Endowed Professor
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Medicine
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas United States
- Chief of Research
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Medicine
Gastroenterology and Hepatology
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas United States
- Vice Chief
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Medicine
Gastroenterology and Hepatology
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas United States
- Co-Director
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Medicine
Texas Medical Center Digestive Disease Center
Houston, Texas United States
- Co-Associate Director for Cancer Research Training and Education
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Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas United States
Education
- AB from Washington University, St. Louis, MO
- 12/1989 - St. Louis, Missouri United States
- MD-PhD from University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
- 12/1997 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania United States
- Postdoctoral Fellowship at Washington University Medical Center
- 01/2002 - St. Louis, Missouri United States
Certifications
- (01/01/2021)
- Board Eligible, Anatomic Pathology
Honors & Awards
- Excellence in Research and Leadership Award
- Baylor College of Medicine, Section of Gastroenterology & Hepatology (12/2022)
- Top Reviewer for Gastroenterology (Badges 1 and 2)
- American Gastroenterological Association (01/2022)
- Membership Induction
- Association of American Physicians (02/2022)
- Research Mentor Award (Cellular & Molecular Gastroenterology Section)
- AGA Institute Council (01/2022)
Professional Interests
- Research Interests, Dr. Jason Mills
Professional Statement
I am trained as a human pathologist and have served as an attending on autopsy service for nearly 20 years. As a scientist, I trained in cell and developmental biology as well as bioinformatics. My research focuses on how cells in tissue adapt to various stressors, in particular those that cause them to change their functional identity. Thus, I am interested in how mature cells rearrange their structure to become proliferative, regenerating cells. I have proposed that cells have a universal program, like those for division and death, to do this. This cellular program, paligenosis, helps fuel tissue repair but also, by allowing old cells to proliferate, increases risk for mutation accumulation and development of chronic, pre-cancerous conditions (like metaplasia) and tumorigenesis. I have also led several translational efforts, including clinical trials, to use my lab’s study of paligenosis to better prevent or treat tumors.Selected Publications
- Miao ZF, Lewis MA, Cho CJ, Adkins-Threats M, Park D, Brown JW, Sun JX, Burclaff JR, Kennedy S, Lu J, Mahar M, Vietor I, Huber LA, Davidson NO, Cavalli V, Rubin DC, Wang ZN, Mills JC. "A Dedicated Evolutionarily Conserved Molecular Network Licenses Differentiated Cells to Return to the Cell Cycle.." 2020 Aug 7;178-194. Pubmed PMID: 32768422
- Miao ZF, Adkins-Threats M, Burclaff JR, Osaki LH, Sun JX, Kefalov Y, He Z, Wang ZN, Mills JC. "A Metformin-Responsive Metabolic Pathway Controls Distinct Steps in Gastric Progenitor Fate Decisions and Maturation.." Cell Stem Cell. 2020 Apr 2;910-925. Pubmed PMID: 32243780
- Miao ZF, Sun JX, Adkins-Threats M, Pang MJ, Zhao JH, Wang X, Tang KW, Wang ZN, Mills JC. "DDIT4 Licenses Only Healthy Cells to Proliferate During Injury-induced Metaplasia.." Gastroenterology. 2020 Sep 19;206-271. Pubmed PMID: 32956680
- Radyk MD, Burclaff J, Willet SG, Mills JC. "Metaplastic Cells in the Stomach Arise, Independently of Stem Cells, via Dedifferentiation or Transdifferentiation of Chief Cells." Gastroenterology. 2017 Dec 14;839-843. Pubmed PMID: 29248442
- Burclaff J, Willet SG, Sáenz JB, Mills JC. "Proliferation and Differentiation of Gastric Mucous Neck and Chief Cells During Homeostasis and Injury-induced Metaplasia.." Gastroenterology. 2019 Oct 5;598-609. Pubmed PMID: 31589873
- Willet SG, Lewis MA, Miao ZF, Liu D, Radyk MD, Cunningham RL, Burclaff J, Sibbel G, Lo HG, Blanc V, Davidson NO, Wang ZN, Mills JC "Regenerative proliferation of differentiated cells by mTORC1-dependent paligenosis." The EMBO Journal. 2018 Feb 21; Pubmed PMID: 29467218
- Mahliyah Adkins-Threats, Sumimasa Arimura, Yang-Zhe Huang, Margarita Divenko, Sarah To, Heather Mao, Yongji Zeng, Jenie Y Hwang, Joseph R Burclaff, Shilpa Jain, Jason C Mills "Metabolic regulator ERRγ governs gastric stem cell differentiation into acid-secreting parietal cells." 2024 Jun 6;31:886–903. Pubmed PMID: 38733994
- Spencer G Willet, Nattapon Thanintorn, Helen McNeill, Sung-Ho Huh, David M Ornitz, Won Jae Huh, Stella G Hoft, Richard J DiPaolo, Jason C Mills "SOX9 Governs Gastric Mucous Neck Cell Identity and Is Required for Injury-Induced Metaplasia." 2023;16:325–339. Pubmed PMID: 37270061
Memberships
- American Gastroenterological Association
- American Society for Cell Biology
- American Society for Microbiology
- American Physiological Society
- American Society for Investigative Pathology
- American Society for Clinical Investigation
- American Association for Cancer Research
- Association of American Physicians
Funding
- MECHANISMS GOVERNING EXPANSION OF EMBRYONIC PROGENITOR CELLS (EPCS) IN METAPLASIA - #R01 CA239645
- $1,740,651.00 (06/10/2020 - 05/31/2025) Grant funding from NIH NCI
- The goal of this project is to understand how metaplasia forms and why it increases cancer risk.
- MECHANISMS AND BIOMARKERS IN ABERRANT PALIGENOSIS-INDUCED STOMACH TUMORIGENESIS - #R01 CA246208
- $815,768.00 (05/01/2020 - 04/30/2025) Grant funding from NIH NCI
- The goal of this project is to understand how preneoplastic lesions progress to gastric cancer through a recently characterized conserved, stepwise, cellular program termed paligenosis. We will examine the paligenosis program through three well organized stages as a mechanism to adapt to ongoing injury and/or inflammation.
- MECHANISMS OF CHIEF CELL DEDIFFERENTIATION - #R01 DK105129
- $3,117,314.00 (07/01/2024 - 06/30/2029) Grant funding from NIH NIDDK
- The goals/aims of the project are: (1) to confirm and further characterize at which stages ISR is active and confirm and characterize the role for ATF3; (2) to identify additional genes involved in the ISR and paligenosis; and (3) to test ATF3 and the ISR and new targets developed in Aim 2 in a pipeline of more physiological disease models and human translational samples.
- REGULATION OF ATROPHY-INDUCED PROGENITOR CELLS IN THE GASTRIC CORPUS - #R01 DK094989
- $2,664,266.00 (07/01/2023 - 04/30/2028) Grant funding from NIH NIDDK
- The goals are to examine response of both constitutive and recruited stem cells to atrophy of acid secreting parietal cells.
- CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR MECHANISMS GOVERNING AGING IN THE BLADDER - #R56 AG084691
- $400,000.00 (09/15/2024 - 08/31/2025) Grant funding from NIH NIA
- This research aims to uncover how aging predisposes the bladder to urinary tract infections by examining proteostasis and ribosomal and endoplasmic reticulum dynamics. Proposed aims will investigate the effect of aging on protein trafficking from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to the Golgi apparatus, which is hypothesized to be regulated largely by the Ifrd1 gene. Completion of this work will establish a platform for new treatments, focusing on drugs that target aging-related bladder changes.
- TEXAS MEDICAL CENTER DIGESTIVE DISEASES CENTER - #P30 DK056338
- $5,954,137.00 (03/01/2023 - 02/28/2028) Grant funding from NIH NIDDK
- This center supports four scientific cores, an enrichment core, and a pilot project program to facilitate digestive disease research of center members, promote interactions and translational research between basic and clinical areas, develop new projects, nurture new investigators, and provide educational activities. I serve as co-director of the center and director of one of the scientific cores.
- THE ROLE OF INFLAMMATION IN REGULATING GASTRIC METAPLASIA - #R01 DK134531
- $763,158.00 (03/01/2023 - 11/30/2027) Grant funding from NIH NIDDK
- To focus on correlation of results of mouse experiments in human tissue, will oversee pathological analysis of all tissue, and will perform tumorigenesis experiments. Richard DiPaolo is PI of this award, Jason Mills is a Co-I.
- BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE CANCER CENTER-CANCER CENTER SUPPORT GRANT - #P30 CA125123
- $17,586,440.00 (07/01/2020 - 06/30/2025) Grant funding from NIH NCI
- The goals of the DLDCCC are: (1) to facilitate high-impact collaborative research of significant depth and breadth; (2) to bring together researchers from different Departments, centers, and other institutions for collaborative, transdisciplinary, and translational cancer research; and (3) to train the next generation of cancer researchers and physicians. Paven Reddy serves as PI of this award.
Languages
French, Russian
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