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Many congratulations to Dr. Boyi Gan for publishing a Nature paper in Dec, 2010! Dr. Boyi Gan obtained his Ph.D. from Cornell University and has conducted postdoctoral research in Dr. Ron DePinho's lab at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School. Currently he is the instructor at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. |
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His research aims at understanding the molecular and biological processes at the crossroads of cancer metabolism and stem cell, focusing on the role of PI3 kinase-regulated tumor suppressor network.
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The title of his recent Nature paper is "Lkb1 regulates quiescence and metabolic homeostasis of haematopoietic stem cells" [Nature, 2010, Dec 2;468(7324):701-4]. Here is the short description of his work:
The capacity to fine-tune cellular bioenergetics with the demands of stem-cell maintenance and regeneration is central to normal development and ageing, and to organismal survival during periods of acute stress. How energy metabolism and stem-cell homeostatic processes are coordinated is not well understood. Lkb1 acts as an evolutionarily conserved regulator of cellular energy metabolism in eukaryotic cells and functions as the major upstream kinase to phosphorylate AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and 12 other AMPK-related kinases. Whether Lkb1 regulates stem-cell maintenance remains unknown. Here we show that Lkb1 has an essential role in haematopoietic stem cell (HSC) homeostasis. We demonstrate that ablation of Lkb1 in adult mice results in severe pancytopenia and subsequent lethality. Loss of Lkb1 leads to impaired survival and escape from quiescence of HSCs, resulting in exhaustion of the HSC pool and a marked reduction of HSC repopulating potential in vivo. The adverse impact of Lkb1 deletion on haematopoiesis was predominantly cell-autonomous and mTORC1-independent, and involves multiple mechanisms converging on mitochondrial apoptosis and possibly downregulation of PGC-1 coactivators, which have critical roles in mitochondrial biogenesis and function. Thus, Lkb1 serves as an essential regulator of HSCs and haematopoiesis, and points to the critical importance of coupling energy metabolism and stem-cell homeostasis.
If anyone is interested in his research, you can email him directly at Boyi_Gan@DFCI.HARVARD.EDU.
Cheers
HMS-CSSA
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