Journal of Biochemistry and Biophysics

Dr. Jianfei Qi got his Ph.D. degree in biochemistry at University of Toronto. His thesis work was under direction of Dr. Chi-Hung Siu, and focused on role of N-cadherin and b-catenin signaling in the transendothelial migration of cancer cells, an important step in the cancer metastatic cascade. He joined Dr. Ze’ev Ronai’s laboratory at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute as a postdoctoral fellow and then as a staff scientist. His postdoctoral work identified a key role for the E3 ubiquitin ligase Siah2 in the neuroendocrine differentiation and castration resistance of human prostate cancer via the regulation of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF-1a) and androgen receptor (AR) pathways, respectively. He was establishing his own laboratory at University of Maryland School of Medicine and will further investigate the mechanisms of Siah2 and histone demethylase Jmjd1a in the prostate cancer biology.

Dr. Jianfei Qi research interest is to elucidate the mechanisms by which the E3 ubiquitin ligase Siah2, histone demethylase Jmjd1a and their downstream effectors influence two major phenotypes associated with the more advanced forms of prostate cancer (PCa) – castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) and neuroendocrine differentiation (NED). His previous work has begun to identify the molecular mechanisms by which Siah2 promotes castration resistance, which provide initial insight into the role of Siah2 on CRPC and NED via regulation of androgen receptor (AR) and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF), respectively. Further investigation of the mechanisms by which Siah2 and Jmjd1a regulate their downstream signaling in prostate cancer models will likely lead to novel markers and targets for the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of aggressive prostate cancer in the future.