Soojin Lee
  • Ph. D.
  • Soojin Lee
  • Molecular Cancer Cell Biology
  • N11-609
  • Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology and Functional Genomics (N11-609)
  • +82-42-821-6414, 7485
  • leesoojin@cnu.ac.kr

Academic Career

  • Ph. D., 1998, Seoul National University, Korea

Career

  • Post-Doc., 1998-2000, University of Alabama, Birmingham, USA
  • Post-Doc., 2000-2002, University of California, San diego, USA

Research Interests

  • New cancer drug targets through extensive DNA microassay analysis

    To identify new cancer drug targets, we examined global changes in gene expression between tumor biopsies and normal tissues. Several unknown genes were identified as genes exhibiting significant differential expression in multiple human cancer tissues. Among those, we identified a gene, Cancer- upregulated gene 2 (CUG2), which is significantly up-regulated in several human tissues such as ovary and liver. Recent our studies also revealed that CUG2 play multiple roles by interacting with various key proteins including CENP-T, an important regulator in the interaction between kinetochore and mitotic spindle during mitosis, and CSN5, a key regulator in the proteasome-mediated protein degradation. CUG2 may play important regulatory roles in cell division and mitosis by modulating the cellular activities of these interacting proteins. Our goal is to investigate the cellular function of the newly-identified cancer-related genes in tumor biogenesis and to develop potentially promising new targets for cancer therapy.

  • Target validation for new anti-obesity drug development

    We newly identified a gene, neuronal growth regulator 1 (NEGR1), which displayed commonly down-regulated expression in multiple tumor biopsies. This protein is identified as GPI-anchored protein and localized in lipid raft subcompartment of the cell membrane. Recent reports revealed that the genetic variation of human NEGR1 is highly associated with the human overweight. By using NEGR1 knockout mice, we currently investigate the cellular function of human NEGR1 to reveal the molecular basis of the link between NEGR1 and human obesity and to validate NEGR1 as a future anti-obesity drug target.

Selected Publication

  • Kim H, Chun Y, Che L, Kim J, Lee SJ, and Lee S. The new obesity-associated protein, neuronal growth regulator 1 (NEGR1), is implicated in Niemann-Pick disease Type C (NPC2)-mediated cholesterol trafficking. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2017 Jan 22;482(4):1367-1374.
  • Cheon Y, Jeon S, Lee S. Centromere protein W interacts with beta-transducin repeat-containing protein 1 and modulates its subcellular localization. FEBS Lett. 2016 Dec;590(24):4441-4452.
  • Chun Y, Kim R, Lee S. Centromere Protein (CENP)-W Interacts with Heterogeneous Nuclear Ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) U and May Contribute to Kinetochore-Microtubule Attachment in Mitotic Cells. PLoS One. 2016 Feb 16;11(2):e0149127.
  • Koh W, Park B, Lee S. A new kinetochore component CENP-W interacts with the polycomb-group protein EZH2 to promote gene silencing. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2015 Aug 14;464(1):256-62.
  • Chun Y, Lee M, Park B, Lee S. 2013 CSN5/JAB1 Interacts with the centromeric components CENP-T and CENP-W and regulates their proteasome-mediated degradation. J. Biol. Chem. 2013 288 (38): 27208-19.