Mei Kong, Ph.D.

Research

Our lab studies the cellular and molecular mechanisms that allow tumor cells to survive periods of metabolic stress. A major obstacle that cancer cells must overcome is the ability to survive and adapt to nutrient restrictions that arise from the increased proliferation and the limited tumor blood vessels. We recently discovered that protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) plays a critical role in the regulation of cell survival under nutrients deprivation conditions. However, PP2A is a member of a large family of protein complexes that regulate many different cellular functions. In our laboratory, we will identify the specific PP2A complex that regulates cancer cell survival upon nutrient deprivation and determine its role. We use a variety of tools including biochemistry, metabolic analysis, cell biology, bioinformatics and mouse models to address our biological questions.