Amy S. Lee

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.

Early life and education Lee was born in Guangdong province in China, and grew up in Hong Kong.

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.

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. 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 Valedictorian, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Bacteriology and Immunology (1970) Mark Brothers Award, Indiana University School of Medicine (2019) Spirit of Budapest Pioneer Award, Cell Stress Society International (2019) USC Faculty Lifetime Achievement Award (2026)