Guofei Zhou
Email Address: guofei@uic.eduCollege: Medicine Department: Pediatrics
Title: Associate Professor
Office: COMRB7131 Phone: 3123550073
Participating in the Chancellor’s Undergraduate Research Awards program: Yes
Research Interest:
We mainly focus on pulmonary diseases sucha as lung cancer, pulmonary arterial hypertension, and pulmonary fibrosis on the following three projects: 1) We are invetigating the underlining mechanisms involved in the lung cancer progression. Fast proliferation of tumor cells creates hypoxic microenvironment, which increases tumor cell invasiveness and metastatic potential. We investigate whether hypoxic environment contributes to tumor metastasis via promoting tumor cell epithelial-mesenchymal transition. 2) The second project is to study the molecular mechanims of pulmonary fibrosis. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a devastating disease with poor patient survival rates. The etiology of IPF is unknown and currently there is no effective treatment. We will investigate the role of pVHL, miR-17~92/PDLIM5 lung fibroblast proliferation, activation, differentiation, and senecence. 3) We are studying factors such as microRNA-17~92, AMPK, prolyl hydroxylase, PDLIM5 in regulation of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cell proliferation, differentiation, and survival/apoptosis as well as their implication in hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension in mice. Minimum time commitment in hours per week: 15 hours Qualifications of a Student:
GPA 3.0 and up. Working knowledge of physiology, biochemistry etc. Brief Summary of what is expected from the student:
Self-motivated, responsible and committed. Contact researcher via URE Email Webform
