Georgia Cancer Center researcher in Augusta loses father to cancer

Posted on by Vaseline

Juilanna McGahee
| Augusta University

According to the American Cancer Society, approximately one in five people will develop cancer in their lifetime. One in nine men and one in twelve women will die from cancer.

The family of Yan Cui, PhD, a researcher at the Georgia Cancer Center, is one of many affected by cancer.

“My father died of lung cancer 30 years ago in China. As a non-smoker, the cause of his cancer was environmental pollution. The air quality there was bad. It really affected people’s health and at that time there was no cure at all,” said Cui, who is also a professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Medical College of Georgia.

“He passed away about six months after the diagnosis. Even now, cancer is still a deadly disease that takes so many lives and affects almost every family.”

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Cui wanted to learn more about the various causes of the deadly disease in the hopes of finding a cure. She began her studies in Beijing, China, where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Master of Science in Biophysics, both from Peking University.

But in the summer of 1989, the first year of her PhD program in Beijing, her research and study changed when her supervisor sent her to Canada to continue her studies. A new door opened and she obtained her PhD in Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta.

She then began her postdoctoral training under Lung-Ji Chang, PhD, at the University of Florida. Chang’s research focused on the development of novel lentiviral vector systems for gene therapy.

Cui followed that up by going to Johns Hopkins for her second postdoc under the supervision of Drew Pardoll, MD, and Linzhao Cheng, PhD, where she used her expertise in gene therapy for stem cell transduction and developed a novel approach for targeted gene delivery to dendritic cells. These results were published in the scientific journals Naturopathy And Blood.

After completing her second postdoc training, she set up her own laboratory in New Orleans and considered New Orleans her first “home” in the United States.

“As I moved up in my career, I had friends at the Medical College of Georgia in the immunology program and knew of the very strong immunology program co-led by Drs. David Munn and Andrew Mellor. Knowing that my research program would continue to expand and benefit from the collaboration and learning of great scientists, I was thrilled to join MCG and make Augusta my second home in the United States,” Cui said.

Cui, a 10-year veteran of the Georgia Cancer Center, is a tumor immunologist who studies the complexity of tumor microenvironments and how cancer-associated fibroblasts enforce immunosuppression, thereby promoting tumor formation and progression.

“We are trying to understand how the immune system effectively finds and kills tumors and, on the other hand, how tumors use different means to evade immune surveillance. A better understanding of this will help us develop more effective therapeutic strategies to help patients,” Cui said.

Current research projects in the Cui lab are supported by funding from NIH/NIDCR, Paceline, and GCC ShRAP mechanisms.

Over the years of establishing her lab and expanding her research scope to include head and neck cancer, she has enjoyed the interactions with wonderful scientists, clinicians, and members of the Core Facility. She is also grateful for the productive collaborations with Huidong Shi, PhD, and Zoya Kurago, PhD, the head and neck cancer surgical team led by Kenneth Byrd, MD, and the GCC Tumor Bank team led by Roni Bollag, MD.

“In scientific endeavors, there is never a straight line. Sometimes you have excitement, but often you have negative results, negative outcomes, and discouragement. You can’t see the light, right? You feel like you’re at a dead end or going in circles, but don’t be discouraged; be open-minded,” Cui said. “I think it’s important to reflect with confidence and find a solution that can overcome the obstacles to move forward. Perseverance and encouragement will help us get through the valleys.”

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