Chunming Liu, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Our long-term goal is to investigate the molecular mechanisms of human diseases, and to use our knowledge of cell signaling to develop therapeutics in the future. We are particularly interested in Wnt/ß-catenin signaling, which plays pivotal roles in development and oncogenesis. ß-catenin mutations are frequently found in human cancers (Polakis, 2000). Our previous work provided insights into how these mutations cause ß-catenin accumulation that leads to cancer (Liu et al., 1999; Liu et al., 2002). By collaboration with other members of the UTMB Cancer Center, we will continue to study Wnt/ß-catenin signaling in human cancers, especially colorectal cancer, prostate cancer and liver cancer, which have been suggested to have particular relevance to ß-catenin function and regulation. As available evidence pointed to the involvement of Wnt signaling in stem cell self-renewal, we are going to use Wnt signaling as a molecular probe to explore the mechanism of stem cell self-renewal, and to study the role of stem cell self-renewal in tumorigenesis.
