Glucose metabolism plays a critical role in airway inflammation and remodeling, and cancer. My research interest is to understand the molecular mechanism of activation of X-box binding protein 1 (XBP1)-hexosamine biosynthetic pathway (HBP) and glucose metabolic reprogramming in epithelial-mesenchymal transition. My research reveals that XBP1-HBP is an essential metabolic node contributing to the pathological changes in the airway remodeling diseases, such as hyperinflammation, epithelial cell-state changes, and excessive ECM deposition. I am also interested in understanding the roles of XBP-HBP in regulating cancer metastasis and invasion.
In addition, I am interested in biomarker discovery. I have applied quantitative proteomics approaches to identify the proteins that are diagnostic of diseases, such as Dengue fever, invasive Aspergillosis infectious disease, and Rickettsia infection.