Guan Kunliang is a biochemist and cell biologist who currently holds the positions of chair professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Life Sciences, Westlake University. He received his bachelor’s degree from Zhejiang University (formerly Hangzhou University) in 1982 and earned his PhD from Purdue University in 1989. From 1989 to 1991, he conducted postdoctoral research at Purdue. 

Guan then joined the University of Michigan in 1992 as an assistant professor, and later was promoted to associate professor in 1996, full professor in 2000 and was named H. Christensen professor in 2003. From 2007 to 2023, he worked as a professor at the University of California, San Diego, and has been named distinguished professor since 2013. 

Guan has over 30 years of research experience in signal transduction related to cell growth regulation and tumorigenesis. Over the past two decades, his research has focused primarily on the mTOR and Hippo pathways. 

Guan’s laboratory has made significant contributions to mapping the mTORC1 signaling network, including the identification of TSC1/2-Rheb, Rag and AMPK as upstream regulators of mTORC1 in response to growth factors, nutrients and energy status, as well as the elucidation of ULK1 and VPS34 as downstream effectors of mTORC1 in autophagy.

Guan has authored more than 300 research publications and is among the most highly cited researchers in molecular biology and genetics, with over 130,000 citations and an H-index of 168 (Google Scholar).