Winnie Shum
Assistant Professor, PI
Life Science and Technology
Shanghai Tech University
China
Biography
Winnie Shum obtained her PhD in Pharmacology from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. She then went to Strathclyde University in the UK for her postdoctoral training in electrophysiology and to Harvard Medical School affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital in the US for her training in cell biology. During her time in Massachusetts General Hospital, her research was awarded the “Fund for Medical Discovery Award” in 2008 and the “Martin Research Prize for Excellence in Basic Research” in 2009. She was appointed as Instructor of Medicine of Harvard Medical School in 2009 and recruited as a principal investigator and tenure-track assistant professor, PI in School of Life Science and Technology of ShanghaiTech University in 2013.
Research Interest
Her research direction is epithelial cell biology and reproduction physiology. Her lab uses epididymis for sperm health in reproduction system as a symbiosis model to study the bioelectrical and physiological signals that make up part of the biological language by which cellular activities are orchestrated into a complex yet congenial micro-environment for health, particularly the homeostatic regulations involving various ion channels, transporters as well as pumps in specific epithelial cell types. Her research group is particularly interested in the cell-cell communication revolving the basal cells for health and disease. Currently, her lab is focused on the functions of calcium and glycan homeostasis in epididymis for sperm maturation and sperm-egg interaction.
Publications
-
Păunescu PG, Shum WWC, Huynh C, Lechner L, Goetze B, Brown D, Breton S. Novel structures of epididymal epithelial cells and their interaction with sperm revealed by high resolution helium ion microscopy. Mol Hum Reprod. 2014.
-
Shum WWC, Smith TB, Cortez-Retamozo V, Roy JW, Hill E, Pittet MJ, Breton S, Da Silva N. Epithelial Basal Cells Are Distinct from Dendritic Cells and Macrophages in the Mouse Epididymis. Biol. Reprod., 90: 90, 2014.
-
Shum WW*, Hill E, Brown D, Breton S. Plasticity of basal cells during postnatal development and androgen manipulations in the rat epididymis. Reproduction, 2013; 146: 455-469. * Corresponding author.
-
Shum WW, Da Silva D, Belleannée C, Brown D, Breton S. Regulation of V-ATPase recycling via a RhoA- and ROCKII-dependent pathway in epididymal clear cells. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol, 2011; 301: C31-C43.
-
Shum WW, Da Silva N, MeKee M, Smith PJS, Brown D, Breton S. Transepithelial projections from basal cells are luminal sensors in pseudostratified epithelia. Cell, 2008; 135:1108-1117.
