Overview
Research overview
My research interest is mechanistic studies on maternal regulation of reprogramming.
Division
Biography
I completed undergraduate training in Medicine at Guiyang Medical College, China and obtained my PhD degree in Gynaecological Oncogene at the Medical Centre, Peking University, China. My PhD thesis was on the roles of K-ras mutant in endometrial carcinogenesis using cell culture/mouse as model systems.
Upon completing my PhD, I came to the UK and worked as a post-doctoral researcher in the field of reproductive molecular biology and cell and developmental biology. In October 2013 I took up a fellowship at the European Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute where my research aims to explore the possibility that maternal regulation of reprogramming could be exploited to induce cancerous cell differentiation with a potential benefit to develop a new strategy to treat cancers.
Publications
2013
- Gui, L. and Homer, H. 2013. Hec1-dependent cyclin B2 stabilization regulates the G2-M transition and early prometaphase in mouse oocytes. Developmental Cell 25(1), pp. 43-54. (10.1016/j.devcel.2013.02.008)
- Riris, S., Cawood, S., Gui, L., Serhal, P. and Homer, H. A. 2013. Immunofluorescence staining of spindles, chromosomes, and kinetochores in human oocytes. In: Homer, H. A. ed. Mammalian Oocyte Regulation: Methods and Protocols. Methods in Molecular Biology Vol. 957. New York: Humana Press, pp. 179-187., (10.1007/978-1-62703-191-2_12)
2012
- Gui, L. and Homer, H. 2012. Spindle assembly checkpoint signalling is uncoupled from chromosomal position in mouse oocytes. Development 139(11), pp. 1941-1946. (10.1242/dev.078352)
2009
- Homer, H., Gui, L. and Carroll, J. 2009. A spindle assembly checkpoint protein functions in prophase I arrest and prometaphase progression. Science 326(5955), pp. 991-994. (10.1126/science.1175326)
2006
- Tu, Z., Gui, L., Wang, J., Li, X., Sun, P. and Wei, L. 2006. Tumorigenesis of K-ras mutation in human endometrial carcinoma via upregulation of estrogen receptor. Gynecologic Oncology 101(2), pp. 274-279. (10.1016/j.ygyno.2005.10.016)
2005
- Chen, B., Piel, W., Gui, L., Bruford, E. and Monteiro, A. 2005. The Hsp90 family of genes in the human genome: insights into its divergence and evolution. Genomics 86(6), pp. 627-637. (10.1016/j.ygeno.2005.08.012)
2004
- Xu, M. et al. 2004. The 5′-upstream region of human programmed cell death 5 gene contains a highly active TATA-less promoter that is up-regulated by etoposide. Gene 329, pp. 39-49. (10.1016/j.gene.2003.12.025)
- Gui, L. et al. 2004. Regulation of [12Asp]K-ras4B on transcriptional activity of estrogen receptor in endometrial carcinoma HEC-1A cell lines. Zhonghua fu chan ke za zhi 39(1), pp. 30-34.
2002
- Gui, L., Zhang, Y. M., Wang, Y., Chen, Y. and Ma, D. L. 2002. Carcinogenesis and its mechanism of mutant-type[12Asp]K-ras4B gene. Ai Zheng = Aizheng = Chinese Journal of Cancer 21(1), pp. 33-38.
2001
- Han, W. et al. 2001. Molecular cloning and characterization of chemokine-like factor 1 (CKLF1), a novel human cytokine with unique structure and potential chemotactic activity. Biochemical Journal 357(1), pp. 127-135. (10.1042/0264-6021:3570127)
Cancer is a problem of developmental biology. There are many molecular links between embryogenesis and oncogenesis. Some cancerous cells use a transcriptional programme that is active in embryonic stem cells. Uncovering the mechanistic similarity between early embryonic development and cancerous cell initiation may therefore help develop a new strategy to treat cancers.
My previous studies focused upon tumorigenesis and oocyte-based developmental biology using cell culture and/or mice as model systems. My research interest is mechanistic studies on how epigenetic regulation of transcription program controls developmental differentiation. The proposed project is to explore the possibility that maternal regulation of transcription reprogramming could be exploited to induce cancerous cell differentiation.