Chinese Doctors Directory Chinese Medical School Graduates Gathering in North America

Additional Information

Certifications: Board Certified in Pulmonary Medicine, Internal Medicine

Hospital Affiliations:
Cancer Institute (Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute)
Department of Biomedical Sciences
Department of Medicine
Lung Institute (Women's Guild Lung Institute)

Research Interests:
My lab focuses on how the lung epithelium interacts with the matrix during injury and repair. A major focus has been basic research into mechanisms regulating airway epithelial cell migration using in vitro and in vivo mouse models of airway injury. We have been working on understanding how syndecan-1, a cell surface proteoglycan, regulates epithelial repair after injury. Our work has defined a mechanism by which syndecan-1 controls focal adhesion turnover and integrin activation during lung epithelial migration. We have now taken that work and extended it into pathological conditions such as lung cancer and lung infections and finding that syndecan-1 has multiple roles in regulating and limiting the severity of lung disease. In a separate project, my lab has a line of investigation into how microRNAs participate in airway repair and fibrosis. This project takes a translational approach by using human airway epithelial cells procured from lung transplant patients. Our goal is to identify putative microRNAs that participate in the pathophysiology of chronic rejection after lung transplantation (i.e., obliterative bronchiolitis).