癌細胞相關蛋白的功能研究: Primary interest of my lab is to study protein functions through diverse omics techniques as well as chemical biology. Current focus is the hnRNPK protein that participates in many cell events, including chromatin recruiting, transcription regulation, RNA splicing and translation regulation. Moreover, amplification of hnRNPK is associated with cancer progression, migration and prognosis. Recently, we demonstrated that two essential arginine methylation of hnRNPK is able to suppress the apoptotic induction of DNA damage in cancer cells. The mechanism regarding how these arginine methylation help cancer cells survive from apoptosis is under study.

長壽基因的作用機制探討: Cisd2 is a mitochondrial/ER protein demonstrated by Prof. Ting-Fen Tsai (Department of Life Sciences and Institute of Genome Sciences, NYMU) for its close correlation with aging process in mice model. Our investigation of Cisd2 knockout and transgenic mice using proteomics and metabolomics approaches has identified several pathways that might be associated with the progress of aging in these animal models. Current focus is to illustrate the pathways that are involved in aging process.

以人類血液代謝體研究發展老化指標分子: In addition to aging animal models, we have collaborated with physicians at Taipei Veteran’s General Hospital to search serum metabolites as candidate biomarkers for aging. Among 160 blood samples of donors ranging from healthy youngsters, healthy elders to elders with mild cognition impairment or Alzheimer’s disease in both genders, we have picked up several metabolites strongly associated with aging process or neural degeneration. Current focus is to evaluate the potential of these metabolites as aging markers.

抗癌天然物穿心蓮內酯的分子藥理機制: Andrographolide is a major component of Andrographis paniculata leaves employed for medicinal use, including the anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective activities. Through collaboration with Prof. Shu-Ling Fu (Institute of Traditional Medicine, NYMU), we have demonstrated that andrographolide can transcriptionally down-regulate a triglyceride esterase and thus suppress migration of cancer cells. The mechanism regarding how substrate and product of such esterase affects the biological function of andrographolide is under study.