Jia Fang

Research Overview:

The Fang laboratory focuses on dissecting various epigenetic modifications in physiological and pathological processes, and understanding their roles in tumorigenesis and metastatic progression. Recent findings in the lab have elucidated a novel molecular network in which different chromatin modifying enzymes, catalyzing histone methylation, DNA methylation and histone deacetylation, coordinate for transcriptional repression of tumor suppressor genes and in turn promote epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and tumor progression. The role of the identified mechanisms in the post-implementation silencing of pluripotency genes is also being investigated. The long-term goals of these research programs are to identify novel diagnostic and therapeutic modalities.

The ongoing projects employ a wide range of biochemical, molecular and genetic approaches. Generation of loss-of-function mouse models will be established to further understand the functional significance of different epigenetic regulators in vivo. High throughput screening assays are also being developed in the lab for the screening of small molecule inhibitors targeting the identified epigenetic mechanisms for therapeutics.