Lili Wang Lab

Mike Fernandez's research focuses on the roles of recurrent splicing factor mutations in hematological malignancies, namely as chronic lymphocytic leukemia, myelodysplastic syndromes and acute myeloid leukemia, and how they drive disease oncogenesis and progression. 

Research Focus 

• RNA splicing dysregulation and hematological malignancies 
• Alternate splicing mechanisms 

Degrees 

• B.S. Chemistry/Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego  

Professional Experience 

• Dr. Gourisankar Ghosh Lab, University of California, San Diego 

Awards 

• 2019, Outstanding Oral Presentation Award, RNA Society Meeting 

Memberships 

• American Chemical Society 

Publications 

• Saha K, England W, Fernandez MM, Biswas T, Spitale R, Ghosh G. Structural disruption of exonic stem-loops immediately upstream of the intron regulates mammalian splicing. Nucleic Acids Research 2020. DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkaa358 

In 2018, Prajish Iyer was awarded his Ph.D. in Life Sciences from Tata Memorial Cancer Centre, Advanced Center for Treatment Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC) in India for his thesis entitled “Genetic approaches to identify novel oncogenes in human cancer.” 
 
While pursuing his Ph.D., he gained expertise in understanding the genomics of gallbladder, head and neck cancer and lung cancer using next-generation sequencing technologies. 
 
His work has been covered by Wellcome Trust news in India and other media outlets. Dr. Iyer joined the laboratory of Lili Wang, M.D., Ph.D., in February 2018, where he hopes to use his genomic expertise to understand the genetic alterations of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. His current work is focused on understanding the role of NOTCH signaling and the role of genetic alterations in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. 

Degrees 

• 2017, Ph.D., Life Sciences, Tata Memorial Cancer Centre, ACTREC, India 
• 2012, M.S., Biochemistry, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India 
• 2009, B.S., Biotechnology, University of Mumbai, India 

Professional Experience 

• 2018-present, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Systems Biology, City of Hope, Monrovia, CA 

Awards 

• 2017, SAM Mistry Travel Grant Award for attending Cell Symposia 
• 2017, Homi Bhabha National Institute Travel Grant Award for attending Cell Symposia 
• 2016, Nature Reviews Best Poster Award in NextGen Genomics and Bioinformatics Technologies Conference 
• 2016, Top Poster selected for presentation under Award Category in the India International Science Festival 
• 2014, Nature Reviews Best Poster Award in NextGen Genomics and Bioinformatics Technologies Conference 
• 2012, Best Poster Award Second Global Cancer Genomics Consortium: Second Annual Symposium Genomics Medicine in Cancer Research 

Memberships 

• American Association for Cancer Research 
• Indian Association for Cancer Research, India 
• ATCC SDO Consensus Standards Partnership 
• International Society for Experimental Hematology 

Publications 

• Chandrani P, Prabhash K, Prasad R, Sethunath V, Ranjan M, Iyer P, Aich J, Dhamne H, Iyer DN, Upadhyay P, Mohanty B, Chandna P, Kumar R, Joshi A, Noronha V, Patil V, Ramaswamy A, Karpe A, Thorat R, Chaudhari P, Ingle A, Choughule A, Dutt A. Drug-sensitive FGFR3 mutations in lung adenocarcinoma. Ann Oncol. 2017; 28:597-603. DOI: 10.1093/annonc/mdw636. 
• Iyer P, Barreto SG, Sahoo B, Chandrani P, Ramadwar MR, Shrikhande SV, Dutt A. Non-typhoidal Salmonella DNA traces in gallbladder cancer. Infect Agent Cancer. 2016; 11:12. DOI: 10.1186/s13027-016-0057-x. 
•  Upadhyay P, Gardi N, Desai S, Sahoo B, Singh A, Togar T, Iyer P, Prasad R, Chandrani P, Gupta S, Dutt A. TMC-SNPdb: an Indian germline variant database derived from whole exome sequences. Database (Oxford). 2016; pii: baw104. DOI: 10.1093/database/baw104. 
• Chandrani P, Kulkarni V, Iyer P, Upadhyay P, Chaubal R, Das P, Mulherkar R, Singh R, Dutt A. NGS-based approach to determine the presence of HPV and their sites of integration in human cancer genome. Br J Cancer. 2015; 112:1958-1965. 
• Chandrani P, Upadhyay P, Iyer P, Tanna M, Shetty M, Raghuram GV, Oak N, Singh A, Chaubal R, Ramteke M, Gupta S, Dutt A. Integrated genomics approach to identify biologically relevant alterations in fewer samples. BMC Genomics. 2015; 16:936. 

Full Bio

Research Focus 

• Noncoding splicing factor mutations and RNA splicing dysregulation in hematological malignancies 
• U1snRNA mutation functions and molecular mechanisms impacting cell biology and driving chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) 
• Identification of linear RNA isoforms (splice variants) and circRNA that contribute to the pathogenesis of CLL 

Education 

• B.S. Biology, Ohio State University 

Professional Experience 

• Dr. Zhao Wang Lab, UT Southwestern Medical Center/City of Hope, Department of Diabetes & Cancer Metabolism 

Memberships 

• American Society of Hematology (ASH) 

Publications 

• Li C, Li S, Zhang G, Li Q, Song W, Wang X, Cook J, van der Stoel M, Wright B, Altamirano F, Niewold EL, Han J, Kimble G, Zhang P, Luo X, Urra H, May H, Ferdous A, Sun X, Buszczak N, Zhang K, Deng Y, Ikonen E, Hetz C, Kaufman R, Gillette TG, Scherer PE, Hill JA, Wang ZV. IRE1α Mediates the Hypertrophic Growth of Cardiomyocytes through Facilitating the Formation of Initiation Complex to Promote the Translation of TOP-motif Transcripts. Circ Res. Under Review. 
• Wang X, Zhang G, Dasgupta S, Niewold EL, Li C, Li Q, Luo X, Tan L, Ferdous A, Lorenzi PL, Rothermel BA, Gillette TG, Adams CM, Scherer PE, Hill JA, Wang ZV. ATF4 Protects the Heart From Failure by Antagonizing Oxidative Stress. Circ Res. 2022 Jun 24;131(1):91-105. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.122.321050. Epub 2022 May 16. PMID: 35574856; PMCID: PMC9351829. 
• Tran DH, May HI, Li Q, Luo X, Huang J, Zhang G, Niewold E, Wang X, Gillette TG, Deng Y, Wang ZV. Chronic activation of hexosamine biosynthesis in the heart triggers pathological cardiac remodeling. Nat Commun. 2020 Apr 14;11(1):1771. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-15640-y. PMID: 32286306; PMCID: PMC7156663. 

Research Focus 

Dalmas Odhiambo’s research is focused on how dysregulation of epitranscriptomic mechanisms involved in gene expression regulation contributes to tumorigenesis and aggression of chronic lymphocytic leukemia with the aim of finding novel hits that can be targeted for therapy. 

Education 

B.Sc. Microbiology, Kenyatta University, Nairobi 

Professional Experience 

Association of Public Health Laboratories/CDC 

Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)/CDC 

Awards 

• 2021: Certificate of Participation in Cambridge eSCAMPS 2021 

Research Focus 

• Understand the biology of mantle cell lymphoma 

Education 

• 2021, Ph.D., Chemical Biology, Xiamen University, China 
• 2012, M.S., Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Xiamen University, China 
• 2009, B.S., Food Science and Engineering, Jiangnan University, China 

Professional Experience 

• 2021-Present, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Systems Biology, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, Monrovia, CA 
• 2016-2017, Visiting Ph.D. student, Department of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 

Awards 

• 2017, Huang Zhongxian Scholarship, Xiamen University 
• 2015, Guanghua Scholarship, Xiamen University 

Publications 

• Shen HF, Zhang WJ, Huang Y, He YH, Hu GS, Wang L, Peng BL, Yi J, Li TT, Rong R, Chen XY, Liu JY, Li WJ, Ohgi K, Li SW, Rosenfeld MG, Liu W. The Dual Function of KDM5C in Both Gene Transcriptional Activation and Repression Promotes Breast Cancer Cell Growth and Tumorigenesis. Adv Sci (Weinh). 2021 Feb 18;8(9):2004635. doi: 10.1002/advs.202004635. eCollection 2021 May. PubMed [citation] PMID: 33977073, PMCID: PMC8097366 
• Yi J, Shen HF, Qiu JS, Huang MF, Zhang WJ, Ding JC, Zhu XY, Zhou Y, Fu XD, Liu W. JMJD6 and U2AF65 co-regulate alternative splicing in both JMJD6 enzymatic activity dependent and independent manner. Nucleic Acids Res. 2017 Apr 7;45(6):3503-3518. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkw1144. PubMed [citation] PMID: 27899633, PMCID: PMC5389685 
• Wang X, Wang HY, Hu GS, Tang WS, Weng L, Zhang Y, Guo H, Yao SS, Liu SY, Zhang GL, Han Y, Liu M, Zhang XD, Cen X, Shen HF, Xiao N, Liu CQ, Wang HR, Huang J, Liu W, Li P, Zhao TJ. DDB1 binds histone reader BRWD3 to activate the transcriptional cascade in adipogenesis and promote onset of obesity. Cell Rep. 2021 Jun 22;35(12):109281. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109281. PubMed [citation] PMID: 34161765 
• Wang L, Yi J, Lu LY, Zhang YY, Wang L, Hu GS, Liu YC, Ding JC, Shen HF, Zhao FQ, Huang HH, Liu W. Estrogen-induced circRNA, circPGR, functions as a ceRNA to promote estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer cell growth by regulating cell cycle-related genes. Theranostics. 2021 Jan 1;11(4):1732-1752. doi: 10.7150/thno.45302. eCollection 2021. PubMed [citation] PMID: 33408778, PMCID: PMC7778588 
• Peng BL, Li WJ, Ding JC, He YH, Ran T, Xie BL, Wang ZR, Shen HF, Xiao RQ, Gao WW, Ye TY, Gao X, Liu W. A hypermethylation strategy utilized by enhancer-bound CARM1 to promote estrogen receptor α-dependent transcriptional activation and breast carcinogenesis. Theranostics. 2020 Feb 10;10(8):3451-3473. doi: 10.7150/thno.39241. eCollection 2020. PubMed [citation] PMID: 32206101, PMCID: PMC7069091 
• Gao WW, Xiao RQ, Zhang WJ, Hu YR, Peng BL, Li WJ, He YH, Shen HF, Ding JC, Huang QX, Ye TY, Li Y, Liu ZY, Ding R, Rosenfeld MG, Liu W. JMJD6 Licenses ERα-Dependent Enhancer and Coding Gene Activation by Modulating the Recruitment of the CARM1/MED12 Co-activator Complex. Mol Cell. 2018 Apr 19;70(2):340-357.e8. doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2018.03.006. Epub 2018 Apr 5. PubMed [citation] PMID: 29628309, PMCID: PMC6258263 
• Wu XN, Shi TT, He YH, Wang FF, Sang R, Ding JC, Zhang WJ, Shu XY, Shen HF, Yi J, Gao X, Liu W. Methylation of transcription factor YY2 regulates its transcriptional activity and cell proliferation. Cell Discov. 2017 Oct 3;3:17035. doi: 10.1038/celldisc.2017.35. eCollection 2017. PubMed [citation] PMID: 29098080, PMCID: PMC5665210 
• Zhang WJ, Wu XN, Shi TT, Xu HT, Yi J, Shen HF, Huang MF, Shu XY, Wang FF, Peng BL, Xiao RQ, Gao WW, Ding JC, Liu W. Regulation of Transcription Factor Yin Yang1 by SET7/9-mediated Lysine Methylation. Sci Rep. 2016 Feb 23;6:21718. doi:10.1038/srep21718. PubMed [citation] PMID: 26902152, PMCID: PMC4763200 
• Gao WW, Xiao RQ, Peng BL, Xu HT, Shen HF, Huang MF, Shi TT, Yi J, Zhang WJ, Wu XN, Gao X, Lin XZ, Dorrestein PC, Rosenfeld MG, Liu W. Arginine methylation of HSP70 regulates retinoid acid-mediated RARβ2 gene activation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2015 Jun 30;112(26):E3327-36. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1509658112. Epub 2015 Jun 16. PubMed [citation] PMID: 26080448, PMCID: PMC4491752