Research Summary
Taken together with our previous studies of the KCNK9 potassium channel upregulation in breast cancer (Mu et al., 2003, Cancer Cell 3, 297-302; Pei et al., 2003, PNAS 100, 7803-7807) and the EAG2 potassium channel upregulation in multiple subgroups of medulloblastoma (MB) that facilitates MB cell proliferation and migration (Huang et al., 2012, Genes & Development 26, 1780-1796; Huang et al., 2015, Nature Neuroscience 18, 1236-1246), our recent study of the TMEM16A calcium activated chloride channel upregulation in pancreatic cancer that is associated with the ligand-dependent EGF receptor signaling pathway and poor prognosis (Crottes et al., 2019, PNAS 116, 13026-13035) and our on-going studies of ion channels that are up- or down-regulated in various cancers support the notion that different types of cancer may involve different ion channels for their rapid proliferation, extensive migration and invasion.
Research Funding
May 1, 2021 - April 30, 2029 - The TMEM16 Family of Ion Channels and Lipid Scramblases , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R35NS122110
February 15, 2020 - January 31, 2025 - Molecular and Genetic Studies of TMEM16C Control of Thermoregulation and Neuronal Excitability , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01NS108946
September 15, 2017 - August 31, 2023 - Illuminating Druggable Dark Matter , Co-Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: U24DK116214
July 15, 2011 - April 30, 2023 - Molecular, genetic & physiological studies of calcium-activated chloride channels , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01NS069229
Education
National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, B.Sc., 06/1968, Physics
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, M.Sc., 06/1970, Physics
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, Ph.D., 06/1974, Biophysics & Physics
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, Postdoc, 06/1977, Neuroscience
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, Postdoc, 06/1979, Neuroscience