MY RESEARCH

Using human cancer cells that are known to be non-adherent, I found several conditions that caused the cells to aggregate with each other, one of which is the environment in which the cells are grown. Interestingly, these aggregates had shapes that were different in different environments. For example, cells grown in one environment looked like a bunch of grapes (loose and round), while cells grown in another caused their aggregates to look like a soccer ball (compacted and spherical). We also found that preventing specific proteins from functioning correctly also caused these cells to aggregate, with unique shapes.

I hypothesize that there are several other external factors that can cause epithelial cells to shape differently, some of which are oxygen levels, acidity, and different nutrients. I will continue to use our unique non-adherent cells to test these environments and look at how they aggregate. Furthermore, I will interfere with gene expressions to see which ones are important for regulating the cell's shape using functional shRNA screening.

Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are reprogrammed human stem cells that may be generated from any cell in the human body and are able to differentiate into the majority of somatic cells. As such, they are an ideal model organism for studying embryogenesis and diseases. I was interested in modeling Wilson's Disease, a rare genetic copper-metabolic disorder of the ATP7B gene affecting mainly the liver, using iPS cells. Through the reprogramming of patient-derived fibroblasts into iPS cells, I assisted in the subsequent characterization of iPS cells. 

Research goals involved the characterization of both fibroblasts and generated iPS cell lines. Characterization of the five fibroblast lines involved detecting the presence or absence of ATP7B in both the two wild-type lines and three Wilson's Disease lines. Characterization of the respective five reprogrammed iPSCs included similar ATP7B presence, along with pluripotency marker checks to prove the stem "cell-ness" of each line. All characterization of ATP7B in the fibroblasts and iPS cells was completed, and the majority of pluripotency marker characterizations were completed, with the exception of one iPS cell line due to time constraints.

Chromosome 17q12-q21 region harbors genetic variants associated with childhood asthma and inflammatory bowel disease in humans. It spans protein-coding genes zona pellucida binding protein 2 (ZPBP2), gasdermin B (GSDMB), ORMDL sphingolipid biosynthesis regulator 3 (ORMDL3), and gasdermin A (GSDMA). Genetic variants in this region influence their expression levels. Therefore, regulatory variation is the likely mechanism by which 17q12-q21 genetic variants influence disease risk.

The circadian rhythm is an important biological system, functioning as the organism's core internal clock that regulates multiple functions, including sleep-wake cycle, homeostasis and metabolism. It regulates thousands of genes and may, in principle, be modified by genetic variation.