Fengyi Wan, PhD, The Johns Hopkins University

The Wan laboratory is interested in investigating the signal transduction and gene regulation in bacterially induced colonic infection, inflammation, and tumorigenesis. Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB) signaling pathways are crucial for host defense against bacterial infections and play an important role in tumorigenesis in the colon. They are studying the molecular/cellular mechanisms and pathophysiological significance of impaired NF-kB signal transduction and gene transactivation in bacterial infection-associated colonic inflammation and tumorigenesis, using a combination of genetic, immunological, molecular, and cellular approaches. In particular, they are interested to examine how the virulence proteins (effectors) from attaching/effacing pathogens interfere with NF-kB signaling and subvert inflammatory responses in colon epithelial cells, to elucidate the key immune cell signaling that orchestrates innate and adaptive immune responses to colonic bacterial infection, and to explore the critical pathogen-host interactions that can be mechanistically linked to microbially induced colon cancer etiology in mice.