Instructor at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine
My career goal is leading a multidisciplinary research laboratory focused on addressing challenges in the treatment of lung cancer.
What inspired you to focus your career on thoracic oncology?
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. In particular, small cell lung cancer has been defined as a recalcitrant cancer for its five-year relative survival rate of less than 7% and lack of treatment advances for over 30 years. I was greatly shocked by these dismal facts and decided to focus on identifying new therapeutic strategies in lung cancer, which hopefully will make an impact in improving patient survival.
How has receiving an ILCF Research Grant Contributed to the advancement of your research?
The International Lung Cancer Foundation Research Grant has enabled me to receive exceptional advice and guidance from my mentor Dr. Kwok-Kin Wong on both scientific research and career development. It also has helped me foster and strengthen collaborations with established experts, such as Dr. Nathanael Gray (Chemistry and Systems Biology, Stanford University), who is an expert in cancer chemical biology and molecular pharmacology and has pioneered pharmacological approaches to target protein kinases in cancer; and Dr. Guocheng Yuan (Computational Biology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai), who is a leading expert in developing systems biology approaches to study the cellular mechanisms for human diseases. Their expertise has greatly complemented and greatly facilitated the execution of the project, and promoted collaboration multidisciplinary teams between different institutions. The Award has provided strong financial support for the execution of the project and educational support for me to attend national and international conference. For instance, I attended as an Invited Faculty to present the some findings from this project at the IASLC 2021 Hot Topic Meeting: Small Cell Lung Cancer (virtual).
What are the next steps of your research? Of your career?
Considering the universal role of CDK7 in cell cycle and transcription, further work is needed to fully elucidate CDK7 function in immune cells, particularly in the lung microenvironment. Furthermore, it is worthwhile investigating the biomarkers that are associated with CDK7 response which can further guide clinical trials in patients with SCLC.
My career goal is leading a multidisciplinary research laboratory focused on addressing challenges in the treatment of lung cancer.
How are your next steps influenced by the outcomes of the project funded by your ILCF Research Grant?
Our findings support moving the combination of CDK7 inhibitor and immunotherapy into early phase clinical trials.
Who is your primary mentor? What makes your relationship with your mentor meaningful to you?
Kwok-Kin Wong:
The ILCF Grant has enabled me to receive exceptional advice and guidance from my mentor Dr. Kwok-Kin Wong on both scientific research and career development.
What are some of your passions outside of work?
I love running and swimming. I did NYC Marathon in 2019 to support lung research charity.