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Profile - Chia-Wei Cheng
Chia-Wei Cheng
Contact Information
E-mail: cheng11@usc.edu
Mail Code: 0371
Started at USC: Fall 2008
Education:
2008 ��� present
Graduate Student, Integrative & Evolutionary Biology
University of Southern California, Los Angeles
2004 ��� 2006
M.S., Biology (Entomology)
Thesis: "The differentiation of egg-dumping decisions in Callosobruchus maculatus"
National Taiwan University, Taiwan
2000 ��� 2004
B.S., Biology (Entomology)
National Taiwan University, Taiwan
Faculty Advisor(s):
Dr. Valter Longo, Gerontology
Research Abstract:
The primary focus of my project is to understand the role of the IGF-I signaling, a conservative longevity signaling shared from yeasts to humans, in regulating the fates of cells: self-renewal, differentiation or tumorgenesis.
Recent evidences from various model organisms imply that the pro-aging pathways might contribute to cancer by increasing age-dependent genomic instability. To answer if IGF-I dependent DNA damages promote tumorigenesis (i.e. enhance cell-proliferant but limit differentiation potency) as well as aging (i.e. limit both cell-proliferant and differentiation potency), we plan to regulate the IGF-I signaling in two cell line models: the embryonic/bone-marrow stem cells as the undamaged healthy model and the carcinoma cells as the tumor model; to see if the high IGF-I level promotes the DNA damages required for tumor-genesis and reversely, how the low IGF-I protects the cell lines from the damages promoting tumor-genesis. So far, the preliminary DNA damages analysis from the mouse embryonic stem (MEF) cells supported the hypothesis. The testing system will be further applied on human embryonic stem cell lines. Combining with the in vivo tests in mice models, we can expect the findings will extend our understanding of tumorgenesis and cancer therapy as well as aging.
Stem cell biology has been broadly applied to cancer studies for years. At the same time, there are growing studies adopting the aging researches as the key to the understanding of cancer. In this project, we cooperate with the stem cell core laboratories directed by Dr. Martin Pera at USC. We anticipate the integration of gerontology and stem cell biology will shed new light on cancer prevention or cancer therapy design.
CV: Click to view