Research Focus

The research of my lab focuses on two important biological questions? How is cell division cycle regulated? How does the cell-cycle program integrate into developmental decisions to regulate growth at tissue and organism levels? 

Cell cycle control and the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor pathway

A unicellular green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, is used as an experimental organism because it offers a powerful genetic system to address question of cell division cycle at single-cell level. Our molecular genetic study on Chlamydomonas Retinoblastoma (RB) tumor suppressor pathway has added a new class of sulfate/anion transporter to the cellular redox network and reinforce the growing importance of glutathione-mediated redox balance on cell cycle regulation. In addition, we show that a SUMO protease is a novel regulator downstream of the RB pathway. Studies of the novel components may provide new insights into RB-based cell cycle regulation that may have potential impact on cancer biology.

Micropropagation in orchids

Micropropagation techniques are essential for mass production of clonal seedlings in the orchid industry to fulfil the demand for orchid plants among the general public. Because cell cycle control constitutes a basic cell proliferation network that is fundamental to growth and development, I apply the basic principle to explore regulatory circuits governing developmental pathways of orchid micropropagation. Even though micropropagation has been routinely applied to generate orchid seedlings, how do somatic cells regain totipotency and switch developmental fates to form a plant is largely unclear. We are applying the integrated omics strategy to probe the molecular mechanisms of different regeneration processes. The knowledge gained from this study will provide fundamental understanding of orchid regeneration processes and be useful to devise approaches to improve orchid micropropagation and maybe other crop plants.