Biography

I am a molecular biologist and cell biologist focusing on macrophage biology and functional genomics and now be hired as an Associate Research Scientist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Columbia University in the City of New York.

My PhD work (2014-2019) has centered on the role of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) oxidative protein folding machinery in Cardiovascular disease and in anti-inflammaging. My thesis contains two parts. One is Hyperhomocysteinemia reduces ER redox state in endothelial cells and trigger the progression of atherosclerosis. The other project is that maintaining the ER redox state by GPx7, a ER resident H2O2 scavenger, protect mesenchymal stem cells from aging. I had 5 peer-reviewed research papers from my PhD work published in Redox Biology 2019 (first author, IF: 11.799), Aging Cell 2018 (co-first author, IF: 11.005), Redox Biology 2020 (second author, IF: 11.799), Free Radical Biology and Medicine 2022 (co-author, IF: 8.101) and EBioMedicine 2019 (co-author, IF: 11.2). The citation of my first author paper reached top 5% in the first year of publication compared to all the other papers in Redox Biology. The Ph.D. work educates me on molecular and biochemical approaches, as well as cell biology.

My postdoctoral work (2019-2024) is going on studying the cardiovascular diseases and inflammation. The goal of my training is to leverage my strengths in molecular and cellular biology, expand the breadth of my research expertise to macrophage biology and functional genomics, and complete a body of original research that advances the translational studies of cardiometabolic diseases. In 2019, I started my postdoctoral training as an awardee of the Russell Berrie Foundation Diabetes Scholars Program. From 2021 to 2023, I was funded by the American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship. My primary research focus is discovering novel regulators of macrophage efferocytosis by genome-wide CRISPR screen and interrogating their roles in cardiovascular diseases, including atherosclerosis. For this American Heart Associate Career Development Award proposal, I am expanding my arena into the role of macrophage efferocytosis in cardiac injury to establish my own niche.

I have been making steady progress toward my goals, including: (1) publications in Nature Communications 2022 (co-first author) and Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology 2022 (co-author), The American Journal of Pathology 2024 (first author), STAR Protocols(first author). (2) three abstracts presented at Vascular Discovery Scientific Session 2020, the AHA Scientific Session 2021, and Keystone Symposia 2022 on myeloid cells, receiving a total of three abstract awards; (3) important preliminary data leading to the central hypothesis in this proposal addressing how enhancing WDFY3, a novel regulator of macrophage efferocytosis discovered by our genome-wide CRISPR screening, promotes the engulfment and degradation of dying cells, thus protecting the heart from cardiac injury.