Overview
Part II is to investigate the intracellular process termed autophagy in T lymphocyte function. Autophagy is a highly conserved self-digestion pathway that plays essential roles in maintaining the homeostasis of organelles, degrading long-lived proteins and recycling amino acids under starvation conditions. We have found that autophagy related molecules are expressed in T lymphocytes and autophagy occurs inside T lymphocytes. We have generated autophagy-deficient T lymphocytes in multiple genetic models and investigated the roles of autophagy in T lymphocytes. We found that autophagy plays a critical role in T lymphocyte function. Our current effort is to elucidate the molecular pathways by which TCR signal induces autophagy and the impact of autophagy on intracellular organelle homeostasis in dividing T cells.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Recent Publications
Identification of growth differentiation factor 15 as an early predictive biomarker for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis: A nested case-control study of UK Biobank proteomic data.
Journal Article Diabetes Obes Metab · May 2025 AIMS: This study aims to determine the predictive capability for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) long before its diagnosis by using six previously identified diagnostic biomarkers for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver ... Full text Link to item CiteAssociation of pre-diagnosis plasma proteomic contexture with overall survival of early- and late-stage colon cancer patients.
Journal Article BMC Cancer · April 21, 2025 BACKGROUND: The pre-diagnosis plasma proteomic contexture of colon cancer patients may reflect host immune and biological conditions and potentially associate with survival outcomes. We aimed to characterize pre-diagnosis proteomic contextures in colon can ... Full text Link to item CiteVps34 puts the 'e' in eTreg cells.
Journal Article PLoS Biol · April 2025 Regulatory T cells (Tregs) exist in distinct subsets, but key regulators of their heterogeneity remain unclear. A recent PLOS Biology study shows that the class III PI3K Vps34 acts as a master orchestrator, driving effector Treg generation and maintenance. ... Full text Link to item CiteRecent Grants
Medical Scientist Training Program
Inst. Training Prgm or CMEPreceptor · Awarded by National Institute of General Medical Sciences · 2022 - 2027Basic Immunology Training Program
Inst. Training Prgm or CMEMentor · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2020 - 2025The Effect of a Desensitization Protocol in Highly Sensitized Renal Transplant Recipients on T Follicular Helper Cells
FellowshipCollaborator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2023 - 2024View All Grants