Precision medicine is designed to tailor treatments for individual patients by factoring in each person’s specific biology and mechanism of disease. This paradigm shifts from a “one size fits all” approach to “personalized and precision care” requires multiple layers of molecular profiling of biomarkers for accurate diagnosis and prediction of treatment responses. Intensive studies are also being performed to understand the complex and dynamic molecular profiles of bladder cancer. These efforts involve looking disease mechanism at the multiple levels of the genome, epigenome, transcriptome, proteome, lipidome, metabolome et al. The aim of this talk is to outline the current technologies being used to investigate molecular profiles and discuss biomarker candidates that have been investigated as possible diagnostic and prognostic indicators of urological diseases including interstitial cystitis and bladder cancer. 

Although prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in the Western world and 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed during their lifetime, few risk factors are established. In addition to age, epidemiological studies have identified a positive family history and race/ethnicity as the most prominent risk factors for prostate cancer. Prostate cancer incidence is higher among men with family history, highlight the contribution of genetic risk to prostate cancer etiology. 

We have identified over 200 prostate cancer susceptibility variants. The estimated relative risk for prostate cancer relative to men was 5.72 (95%CI: 5.04-6.49) for men in the top 1% of the polygenic risk score (PRS) distribution and 2.71 (95%CI: 2.57-2.84) for individuals in the 90-99% of the PRS. The PRS can be used to improve the identification of men at high risk of prostate cancer and, therefore, inform PSA guidelines for screening and management to reduce the burden of over-testing.

Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Given its direct impact on blood flow, non-invasive imaging plays a critical role in disease diagnosis, patient risk stratification, and treatment planning. 

Recently, 4D flow magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has emerged as a powerful technique for assessing intricate blood flow dynamics in the heart and major vessels. It offers a distinct advantage over conventional ultrasound by providing time-resolved three-directional velocities across a volume of the region throughout the entire cardiac cycle. This presentation aims to provide an overview of 4D flow MRI and explore its major applications.

In this presentation, I will share one of my journeys as a medicinal chemist in drug discovery, including what makes major impact in medicinal chemistry to successfully deliver molecules to clinical trials. 

What would be the most “random” geometry on the surface of a sphere? Imagine crafting the geography of a new planet with mountains, seas, forests, and deserts as you wish. Surprisingly, the typical outcome, when chosen randomly out of all possibilities, is an extremely fractal surface with dimension four. This random surface also happens to be related to many important physics models, including quantum gravity, conformal field, and string theories. I will mention some pinnacles in modern probability theory, where several Fields Medals were recently awarded in related areas, and share my aspiration to understand the universe through the lens of random surface theory.

Fungi exhibit a dual nature, encompassing positive aspects such as their ecological role, medicinal applications, and food production, alongside negative aspects like plant diseases, human infections, and food spoilage. Aspergillus section Flavi and Nigri, belonging to the genus Aspergillus, are widely recognized for their extensive applications in food fermentation and biotechnological fields, attributed to their remarkable capability to generate organic acids, proteins, enzymes, and secondary metabolites. The Meju-fermenting fungus Aspergillus oryzae is a GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) organism that has been used for thousands of years to produce various foods, including Doenjang, Korean traditional liquors (Makgeoli), miso, and sake. Growing this food-grade A. oryzae fungus in different proprietary culture media made of various food ingredients led to the development of two types of revolutionaries bioproducts, termed D-Tox and Natural Product (NP). D-Tox is an edible culture fermentate that can effectively degrade aflatoxins (AFs), the most potent carcinogen found in nature, within various foods, herbal medicines, and oil. AF detoxification involves opening the AF lactone ring followed by decarboxylation and further fragmentation of the toxin into nontoxic substances. NP product is also edible food fermentates that can effectively control a broad range of food-borne pathogenic bacteria, various antimicrobial resistance (AMR) bacteria including 10 different MRSA strains, and the human pathogenic fungi Aspergillus fumigatus and Candida species, including the drug resistant C. auris. In summary, D-Tox and NP are safe and effective bioproducts that can enhance global food safety. 

Deciphering molecular mechanisms at the glycome level in mammalian brain remains a missing piece of the puzzle in molecular neuroscience due to the intrinsic complexity of glycosylation and the lack of analytical tools. In this study, we uncovered the variation and diversity of glycome expression in human and mouse brain samples according to spatial and temporal differences. We further constructed a comprehensive synthesis map using glycans structurally elucidated by LC-MS/MS and found strong evidence on the conservation and developmental divergence of human and mouse prefrontal cortex N-glycome. Our data could be the reference for future mammalian brain glycome study. Furthermore, it provides valuable information on human brain glycome, which has languished in relative obscurity. 

Multiple myeloma (MM) is the second most common blood cancer, which forms in plasma cells in the bone marrow. During a course of disease, more than 80% of MM patients developed MM-induced bone disease (MMBD), characterized by one or more bone lesions from imaging. Proteasome inhibitors (PIs), recognized for their efficacy in treating MM, have shown a positive correlation of serum bone anabolic markers with drug-responsive patients. To delve further into this association, we developed a severe MMBD animal model, offering a platform to investigate the intricate relationship between bone health and MM progression. In our studies, the application of bone anabolic agents within this severe MMBD model demonstrated a dual benefit: promotion of bone formation and a delay in MM progression. These findings suggest a potential avenue for therapeutic intervention. Furthermore, our results propose that treatments focused on bone formation not only hold promise for preventing MMBD but also exhibit the potential to impede MM growth. Looking ahead, our findings hold promise for influencing treatment strategies for MM and MMBD. The dual impact on bone health and MM progression opens avenues for developing targeted therapies that address both aspects concurrently.