Dr. Shih has received his doctoral and postdoctoral training in molecular RNA biology. Currently, he is an assistant professor in the Ph.D. Program for Cancer Molecular Biology and Drug Discovery at Taipei Medical University (TMU), focusing on the study of oncogenic lncRNAs and their translational applications.
Long non-coding RNAs in tumor progression
Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) represent a new and under-studied class of transcripts with emerging functions in gene regulation and critical links to human health. Towards a molecular understanding of lncRNA function in tumor progression, our lab is currently integrating a set of biochemical, bioinformatics, and molecular biology strategies to characterize lncRNA species, elucidate their action modes and explore their clinical applicability.
I. LncRNAs in response to tumor hypoxia
Hypoxia is a common feature of the tumor microenvironment, profoundly affects gene expression and is tightly associated with cancer progression. It is now known that lncRNAs play critical roles in the signaling networks mediating the response of cancer cells to hypoxia, such as metabolic reprogramming, invasion and metastasis. We are using a variety of approaches to identify and characterize lncRNAs involved in this process.
II. RNA-based diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for cancer
In clinical practice, it has been shown that circulating noncoding RNAs could serve as potential disease biomarkers with high specificity, sensitivity, and noninvasive characteristics, whereas a series of lncRNAs hold great potential to be developed as specific targets for therapy. In collaboration with clinical physicians, our group currently is implementing in-depth studies in validation of the clinical relevance of the oncogenic circulating lncRNAs we’ve identified, hoping that these efforts could help identifying novel biomarkers and therapeutic strategies beneficial to the cancer patients.
