He Housheng, Hansen
MEDICAL BIOPHYSICS
University of Toronto
Canada
Biography
He Housheng, Hansen Assistant Professor, Ph.D., Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing MaRS Centre, Toronto Medical Discovery Tower, 101 College Street, Room 11-305, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1L7 He Housheng, Hansen Assistant Professor, Ph.D., Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing MaRS Centre, Toronto Medical Discovery Tower, 101 College Street, Room 11-305, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1L7
Research Interest
Cancer arises from breakdown in the normal cellular regulatory system. This malfunction can be a consequence of genetic mutation as well as epigenetic changes. Key epigenetic alterations, including histone modification and DNA methylation, often result in global as well as localized chromatin packaging that influences the transcription of genes important to cancer. While genetic changes are almost impossible to reverse, epigenetic alterations are potentially reversible. Drugs that modify the epigenetic state promise to be effective new cancer therapies. However, the mechanism(s) underlying the epigenetic regulation of cancer cells, as well as the way in which drugs manipulate the epigenetic state and transcription, remain largely unknown. Moreover, as epigenetic regulation is critical for maintaining normal cellular function, the characterization of cancer-specific epigenetic reprogramming is an essential step for increasing specificity of epigenetic therapy. Noncoding RNA, particularly long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), has recently become a new area of focus in cancer biology, with evidence suggesting that they are essential to epigenetic reprogramming during cancer development and progression.
