2019 Undergraduate Summer Research Program Participant

Home Department: Biology
Mentor: Christin Kuo, Pediatrics (Pulmonary Medicine)

Pulmonary neuroendocrine cells (PNEC) have been identified as the primary cell of origin for small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). Little is known about the molecular mechanisms that underlie this; a better understanding will help us develop new SCLC treatments. Mingqian’s research aims to functionally characterize a subset of PNEC progenitors that he identified, and to determine how this pathway, along with other candidate signaling pathways, is involved in PNEC development.