I earned my Ph.D. in Dr. Terry Nett’s laboratory at Colorado State University studying the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and GnRH receptors. I focused on three aspects of the applications of GnRH and GnRH receptor: internalization rates of GnRH receptors (i.e., characterization and comparison of the murine and ovine GnRH receptors), cytotoxic activity and stability of GnRH-toxin conjugates (i.e., examination of GnRH-toxin conjugate’s cytotoxicity, stability, and application in GnRH receptor-positive cell lines), and quantitative assessment of GnRH-toxin conjugates (i.e., establishment and development of ELISA for measurement of GnRH-toxin conjugates). These results directly indicate that GnRH-toxin conjugate is a new class of biomedicines that provide a novel approach for inhibiting reproduction and treating cancers, which are dependent on reproductive hormones (such as breast, endometrial, ovarian, and prostate cancers). This work has contributed to the development of GnRH-Pokeweed antiviral protein (GnRH-PAP) conjugate as a reproductive sterilant currently on the clinical trial.

Postdoctoral Training: Analysis of Nongenomic Androgen-Mediated Signaling

I finished my first postdoctoral training in Dr. Stephen Hammes’s laboratory at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas studying the role of nongenomic androgen-mediated signaling in oocyte (meiotic) maturation. I focused on three aspects of androgen-mediated oocyte maturation: selective modulation of genomic and nongenomic androgen responses by androgen receptor ligands (i.e., evidence that steroid-induced signal may depend on the type of target cell, the receptor location within cells, as well as ligand itself), ovarian CYP17 expression in oocyte maturation (i.e., evidence that oocytes play a critical role in Xenopus ovarian androgen production), Xenopus CYP17-medicated androgen biosynthesis independent of the cofactor cytochrome b5 (i.e., evidence that CYP17 may therefore have evolved from a general producer of sex steroids in lower vertebrates to a more tightly regulated producer of both sex steroids and glucocorticoids in mammals). This work has contributed to support the new mechanism of oocyte maturation that androgen, as well as progesterone, can promote oocyte maturation and androgen may serve as a physiologic mediator in oocyte maturation in vivo.

Current Research Project in Dr. Gary Hammer's lab: Analysis of Transcriptional Activation by Post-Translational Protein Modifications

I study the underlying mechanisms of nuclear receptors’ cyclic recruitment and promoter clearance at University of Michigan. My research focuses on SUMO modification and phosphorylation of orphan nuclear receptor 5A family members.