Shizhen Emily Wang's Biography

Shizhen Emily Wang, Associate Professor, Department of Pathology, University of California, San Diego

S. Emily Wang, Ph.D., is currently an Associate Professor of Pathology at the University of California, San Diego. She first began her research career in the late 1990s as a virologist and obtained her doctorate from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Nankai University, followed by post-doctoral training at the Johns Hopkins University and Vanderbilt University. Before joining UCSD in 2016, Dr. Wang was an Assistant/Associate Professor of Cancer Biology at the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope. Dr. Wang is the recipient of a NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award and several R01 grants. She has also received several IDEA awards from the California Breast Cancer Research Program and an AACR-Breast Cancer Research Foundation translational award. Dr. Wang has more than 60 publications related to her research in cancer and viral oncology, including several recent publications related to extracellular miRNAs in Nature Cell Biology, Cancer Cell, and Cell Metabolism, etc. Her lab is currently exploring additional mechanisms through which cancer-derived extracellular miRNAs contribute to the multifaceted reprogramming of non-cancerous cells in the tumor microenvironment as well as novel therapeutic strategies targeting cancer-derived extracellular miRNAs for their function in cancer-host communication.

Cancer–Host Crosstalk Through Exosomal miRNA

Wednesday, 27 March 2019 at 14:00

Add to Calendar ▼2019-03-27 14:00:002019-03-27 15:00:00Europe/LondonCancer–Host Crosstalk Through Exosomal miRNACirculating Biomarkers World Congress 2019 in Coronado Island, CaliforniaCoronado Island, CaliforniaSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com

Extracellular microRNAs (miRNAs) that can be detected in the circulation are novel mediators of intercellular communication and are considered emerging biomarkers for human diseases. Using cell-secreted extracellular vesicles (e.g., exosomes) as vehicles, miRNAs secreted by cancer cells can travel to and enter various types of niche cells in primary and pre-metastatic tumor microenvironments. Upon entering niche cells, miRNAs regulate gene expression to prepare the niche for cancer progression. Our lab focuses on defining the roles of breast cancer secreted miRNAs in adapting local and distal niche cells and tissues in cancer progression and metastasis. Through de novo sequencing and PCR of circulating small RNAs in the sera of breast cancer patients we identified circulating miRNAs as biomarkers for cancer progression to metastatic disease. Subsequent mechanistic studies revealed important functions of breast cancer secreted miRNAs in various aspects of cellular behaviors. Our findings reveal (1) vascular leakiness and enhanced metastasis caused by cancer-secreted miR-105, which downregulates endothelial tight junctions; (2) miR-105-induced metabolic plasticity in cancer-associated fibroblasts to convert cancer-produced metabolic wastes (e.g., lactate and ammonia) into energy-rich metabolites to re-enter cancer bioenergetics; (3) suppressed glucose utilization by lung fibroblasts and astrocytes in favor of glucose uptake by metastasized cancer cells mediated by cancer-secreted miR-122.

Add to Calendar ▼2019-03-27 00:00:002019-03-29 00:00:00Europe/LondonCirculating Biomarkers World Congress 2019Circulating Biomarkers World Congress 2019 in Coronado Island, CaliforniaCoronado Island, CaliforniaSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com

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