Yun-Fai Chris Lau, PhD

Professor, Department of Medicine, UCSF; Senior Career Scientist, VAMC San Francisco

chris.lau@ucsf.edu

Phone: (415) 379-5526 (voice)
VAMC 111C5, San Francisco, CA 94121

Education

Harpur College, SUNY-Binghamtom, B.A., 1973, Chemistry
University of Texas, Houston, M.S., 1976, Cell Biology
University of Texas, Houston, Ph.D., 1979, Cell Biology

Professional Experience

• 1979-82
  Giannini Research Fellow, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
• 1982-84
  Assistant Research Biochemist, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
• 1984-90
  Associate Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, San Francisco
• 1984-90
  Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, University of California, San Francisco
• 1990-present
  Head, Division of Cell and Developmental Genetics, and Member, Cardiology Section, VA Medical Center, San Francisco, California
• 1988-1992
  Assistant Professor, Dept. of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
• 1992-2000
  Associate Professor, Dept. of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
• 2001-preesnt
  Professor, Dept. of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
• 1992-present
  Scientist and Senior Scientist Northern California Institute of Research and Education, SF
• 1994-present
  Research Career Scientist, VA Medical Center, San Francisco
• 1998-present
  Member, Cancer Genetics, Cell Cycling/Signaling and Prostate Cancer Programs Cancer Center, UCSF

Honors & Awards

• 1973-76
  Robert A. Welch Predoctoral Fellowship, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
• 1976-79
  Rosalie B. Hite Predoctoral Fellowship, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
• 1975-77
  Merit Awards, Excellent Student Research, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
• 1979-82
  A.P. Giannini Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of California, San Francisco

Selected Publications

• Recent Publications (2005 – present)
• Oh HJ, Li YM and Lau Y-FC (2005). Sry associates with a gene-silencing complex by interacting with a KRAB domain protein. Biol Reprod, 72:407-415.
• Taketo T, Lee C-H, Zhang JQ, Li YM, Lee G and Lau Y-FC (2005). Expression of Sry proteins in both normal and sex-reversed XY fetal mouse gonads. Devel Dyn, 233:612-622.
• Williams K, Fernandex S, Stien X, Ishii K, Love HD, Lau Y-FC, Roberts RL and Hayward SW (2005). Unopposed c-MYC expression in benign prostatic epithelium causes a cancer phenotype. The Prostate, 63:369-384.
• Kido T and Lau Y-FC (2005). A Cre gene directed by a human TSPY promoter is specific for germ cells and neurons. Genesis, 42:263-275.
• Kersemaekers AM, Honecker F, Stoop H, Cools M, Molier M, Wolffenbuttel K, Bokemeyer C, Li Y, Lau Y-FC, Oosterhuis JW, Looijenga LH (2005). Identification of germ cells at risk for neoplastic transformation in gonadoblastoma: an immunohistochemical study for OCT3/4 and TSPY. Hum Pathol, 36:512-21.
• Honecker F, Stoop H, Mayer F, Bokemeyer C, Castrillon DH, Lau Y-FC, Looijenga LH, Oosterhuis JW (2006). Germ cell lineage differentiation in non-seminomatous germ cell tumours. J Pathol, 208:395-400.
• Oh HJ and Lau Y-FC (2006). KRAB: A partner for SRY action on chromatin. Mol Cell Endocrinol, 247:47-52.
• Cools M, Honecker F, Stoop H, Veltman JD, de Krijger RR, Steyerberg E, Wolffenbuttel KP, Bokemeyer C, Lau Y-FC, Drop SL, Looijenga LH (2006). Maturation delay of germ cells in fetuses with trisomy 21 results in increased risk for the development of testicular germ cell tumors. Hum Pathol, 37:101-11.
• Hoei-Hansen C, Sehested A, Juhler M, Lau Y-FC, Skakkebaek NE, Laursen H and Rajpert-De Meyts E (2006). New evidence for the origin of intracranial germ cell tumours from primordial germ cells: expression of pluripotency and cell differentiation markers. J Path, 209:25-33.
• Oram SW, Liu XX, Lee T-L, Chan WY and Lau Y-FC (2006). TSPY potentiates cell proliferation and tumorigenesis by promoting cell cycle progression in HeLa and NIH3T3 cells. BMC Cancer, 6: 154.
• Vong QP, Li Y, Lau Y-FC, Dym M, Rennert OM, Chan WY (2006). Structural characterization and expression studies of Dby and its homologs in the mouse. J Andrology, 27:653-661.
• Li YM, Oh HJ and Lau Y-FC (2006). Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase I interacts with Sry and modulates its biological activities. Mol Cell Endocrin, 257-258:35-46.
• Kido T and Lau Y-FC (2006). The rat Tspy is preferentially expressed in elongated spermatid and interacts with core histones, Biochem Biophys Res Comm, 250:56-67.
• Li YM, Vilain E, Conte F, Rajpert-De Meyts E and Lau Y-FC (2007). TSPY is expressed in early and late stages of gonadoblastoma and testicular carcinoma-in-situ. Urol Oncol, 25:141-146 .
• Oh HJ, Kido T and Lau Y-FC (2007). PIAS1 interacts with and represses SOX9 transactivation activity. Mol Reprod Develop, 74:1446-55.
• Li YM, Tabatabi ZL, Lee T-L, Hatakeyama S, Ohyama C, Chan W-Y, Looijenga LH and Lau Y-FC (2007). The Y-encoded TSPY protein: a significant marker potentially plays a role in the pathogenesis of testicular germ cell tumors, Human Pathology, 38:1470-81.
• de Jong J, Stoop H, Gillis AJ, van Gurp RJ, van Drunen E, Beverloo HB, Lau Y-FC, Schneider DT, Sherlock JK, Baeten J, Hatakeyama S, Ohyama C, Oosterhuis JW, Looijenga LH. (2007). JKT-1 is not a human seminoma cell line. International J Andrology, 30:350-65.
• Cools M, Boter M, van Gurp R, Stoop H, Poddighe P, Lau YF, Drop SL, Wolffenbuttel KP, Looijenga LH. (2007). Impact of the Y-containing cell line on histological differentiation patterns in dysgenetic gonads. Clinical Endocrin, 67:184-92.
• Kido T and Lau Y-FC (2008). The human Y-encoded testis-specific protein interacts functionally with the translation elongation factor 1A, International Journal of Cancer, 123:1573-85.
• Li YM and Lau Y-FC (2008). TSPY and its X-encoded homologue interact with cyclin B but exert contrasting functions on cyclin dependent kinase 1 activities, Oncogene, 27:6141:50.
• Li YM, Kido T, Luo S, Dobrinski I, and Lau Y-FC (2008). Intratubular transplantation as a strategy for establishing animal models of testicular germ cell tumors. International J Exp Pathology, 89:342-9.
• Lau Y-FC and Li YM (2009). The human and mouse sex-determining SRY genes repress the Rspo1/β-catenin signaling. J Genomics Genet, 36:193-202.
• Lee TL, Li Y, Alba D, Vong QP, Wu SM, Baxendale V, Rennert OM, Lau Y-FC, Chan WY. (2009). Developmental staging of male murine embryonic gonad by SAGE analysis. J Genet Genomics, 36:215-27.
• Lau Y-FC, Li YM and Kido T (2009). Gonadoblastoma locus and the TSPY gene on the human Y chromosome. Birth Defects Res C Embryo Today, 87:114-22.
• Peng H, Ivanov AV, Oh HJ, Lau Y-FC, and Rauscher III FJ (2009). Epigenetuc gene silencing by the SRY protein is mediated by a KRAB-O protein which recruits the KAP1 co-repressor machinery. J Biol Chem, 284:35670-80.
• Wu JB, Chen K, Li YM, Lau Y-FC and Shih JC (2009). Regulation of monoamine oxidase A by the SRY gene on the Y chromosome. FASEB J,23:4029-38.
• Lee TL, Li Y, Cheung HH, Claus J, Singh S, Sastry C, Rennert OM, Lau Y-FC and Chan WY (2010). GonadSAGE: a comprehensive SAGE database for transcript discovery on male embryonic gonad development. Bioinformatics, 26:585-6.
• Kido T, Hatakeyama S, Ohyama C and Lau Y-FC (2010). Expression of the Y-encoded TSPY is associated with progression of prostate cancer. Genes 1:283-293.
• Lau Y-FC, Li YM and Kido T (2011). Role of the Y-located putative gonadoblastoma gene in human spermatogenesis. Systems Biol in Reprod Med, 57:27-34.
• Kido T, Schubert S, Schmidtke J and Lau Y-FC (2011). Expression of the human TSPY gene in the brains of transgenic mice suggests a potential role of this Y chromosome gene in neural functions, J Genetics and Genomics 38:181-192.
• Kido T, Ou JT-H, Lau Y-FC (2011). The X-linked tumor suppressor TSPX interacts and promotes degradation of the hepatitis B viral protein HBx via the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, PLOS One, 6:e22979.
• BOOK CHAPTERS (from 11 book chapters)
• Lau Y-FC, Kido T and Li YM (2007). TSPY family of multi-functional proteins. In Y Chromosome and Male Germ Cell Biology (Y-FC Lau and WY Chan, eds). World Scientific Press, New Jersey, pp73-90.
• Li YM, Taketo T and Lau Y-FC (2010). Isolation of fetal gonads from embryos of timed pregnant mice for morphological and molecular studies. In Methods in Molecular Biology (WY Chan, ed). Humana Press, New York, in press.
• BOOKS (from 2 books)
• Lau Y-FC and Chan W-Y (2007). Editors, Y Chromosome and Male Germ Cell Biology. World Scientific Press, New Jersey.