Research Interests
1). Standards & reference materials for cancer biomarker clinical analysis. Currently, we are working on the development of cell line based genomic DNA reference materials for gene copy number variations biomarker HER2/EGFR/MET, and spike-in based mimic cell- free DNA reference materials for cancer detection of rare allele mutation in non-invasive circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) from patient's blood. Human artificial chromosomes (HACs) carrying a functional kinetochore were considered as a promising system for gene delivery and expression with a potential to overcome many problems caused by the use of viral-based gene transfer systems. We are interested in engineering a tailored reference material platform based on HAC and genome editing tools such as CRISPR/Cas9 for the production of defined gene copies and gene mutation, or defined fold protein overexpression reference materials.
2). Metrology for cancer biomarker and biosystems. A variety of genetic alterations, including deletions, amplifications, rearrangements and point mutations, exist in human cancer. Recently, we are working on developing digital PCR and next-generation sequencing (NGS) based robust and sensitive assays for rare allele genetic alterations. We are also interested in developing Flow-FISH for simultaneously quantitation of gene amplification and protein overexpression.
NRC POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITIES:
http://nrc58.nas.edu/RAPLab10/Opportunity/Opportunity.aspx?LabCode=50&ROPCD=506441&RONum=C0094
http://nrc58.nas.edu/RAPLab10/Opportunity/Opportunity.aspx?LabCode=50&ROPCD=506441&RONum=B8574