현재의 근황

하버드 의대 조교수, Children's Hospital Boston의 staff scientist로 전립선암, 방광암, Interstitial Cystitis과 같은 비뇨기과 질병의 원인을 밝히고 진단 방법과 치료제 개발에 주력하고 있습니다.

 현 소속과 연구실, 연구분야 소개

My lab has been focused on the basic/translational science studies in the field of urological research. For the past almost 10 years at Children's Hospital Boston, my research interest had primarily been in three areas, prostate and bladder cancer, and interstitial cystitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (IC/CPPS), through the cutting-edge cellular and molecular studies of genitourinary tract pathophysiology.

1.Determine the correlation of cholesterol metabolism and prostate diseases progression :
In a separate series of studies, we have found that the cholesterol in prostate cancer cell membranes regulates prostate cancer growth and neuroendocrine differentiation and promotes aggressive disease. These observations, which may be relevant to the tumor-promoting effects of the Western diet in the case of prostate cancer, are being expanded using the genomic and proteomic strategies combined with systems biology tools to define the molecular signature and target-able genes against prostate diseases including BPH, CPPS and cancer.

2.Investigate the molecular function of nuclear EGFR in bladder cancer progression :
We have made a number of important discoveries that we believe are relevant to bladder cancer progression. Previous my studies have shown that the EGFR receptor tyrosine kinase routed through the nucleus in aggressive tumor cells. The most recent projects are expanding our understanding of the HB-EGF/EGFR nuclear trafficking network and provide new insight into the regulatory role of the nuclear EGFR, which has been shown by others to play a role as a transcription factor in hyper-proliferation of malignant cells. Components of the trafficking function were discovered from mass spectrometric analyses. We believe the studies will lead to the identification of new drug targets for the treatment of bladder cancer.

3. Understand mechanism of IC/CPPS to identify targets for therapeutic purpose :
We are interested in non-malignant conditions that affect the bladder. In a collaboration with the Susan Keay group at U. of Maryland, she discovered that the sialoglycopeptide, anti-proliferative factor (APF), a urine biomarker of IC, signals in human urothelial cells by activating the transcription factor, p53, and this finding was one of the first mechanistic studies of signal transduction processes elicited by APF. Recently we identified a β-catenin network as an element of the signaling response to APF using quantitative proteomics. We are also trying to identify IC/PBS urine biomarkers (protein and metabolites) under close collaborations with other urologists.

SILAC-based quantitative proteomics analysis identifies APF-responsive proteins. (left, top) Diagram describing our approach toward minimizing the false discoveries caused by differential SILAC labeling and/or arginine-to-proline conversion. T24 cells cultured in "heavy" medium were treated with control peptide and used as an internal standard so that the levels of proteins extracted from APF- or control peptide-treated cells, both cultured in "light" medium, can be quantitatively compared. (left, bottom) A representative tandem mass spectrum derived from the analysis of a doubly charged peptide (m/z 930.96) from PKM2. (right) Network model derived from the proteomics dataset.

 연구자로서 애로점이 있으시다면?

어느 직업에나 어려움이 있겠지만, PI의 역할은 연구를 계속할 수 있는 funding과 manpower를 공급하는 것이라는 점에서, 연구자의 역량 외에 개발하고 노력할 부분이 많습니다. New challenge 인 셈이죠.

 같은 길을 걸어가는 학생들/후배들에게 전하고 싶은 말씀?

Harvard Tenure Committee에 계시는 제가 존경하는 교수님 들이 제게 주신 조언으로 대신할까 합니다. (1) Less is more: don't do too much. FOCUS. (2) Developmental network: 나의 다음 단계를 준비할 수 있는 network. (3) Persistency. (4) Mental health. You need BUFFER.

저자 소개 1993 B.S. Microbiology, Ulsan Univerisity, Korea 1995 M.SC. Microbiology,Ulsan Univerisity, Korea 2001 PH.D. Cell Biology Genetic Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Korea 2004 - 2008        Instructor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 2008 - present    Assistant professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA