Hyun Ju Cho
chohyu11(at)msu.edu
1260 Engineering Building
517.432.7395
Hometown: Sacheon, South Korea
Undergraduate Institution: Pusan National University
Graduate Institution:
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (M.S.)
Interests: Watching American dramas and movies, playing racquetball, listening to music, and reading novels
Project title: The Biophysical Effects of Palmitate on System xc-
Palmitate, a saturated free fatty acid, has been known to cause enhanced toxicity to human hepatoma cells (HepG2) using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements and molecular simulation. Furthermore, application of metabolic flux analysis (MFA) and western blotting analysis revealed that cells exposed to palmitate had a consistently reduced flux of glutathione (GSH) due to decreased level of xCT protein, a light subunit of system xc- and a cystine transporter. Because inhibitors of general protein synthesis did not alter the expression level of xCT, suggesting other possible mechanisms, perhaps biophysical effects are involved. My research interest is how to investigate the effects of palmitate on system xc- biophysically and biochemically. For this research, my two main hypotheses are: 1) Palmitate reduces cystine uptake, due to decreased xCT levels or activity in HepG2 cells and 2) Palmitate prevents the insertion of system xc- into the cellular membrane by competing with the regulatory mechanism of system xc-. To examine these hypotheses, I will mainly use nanodiscs and fluorescence technologies. Although these technologies have been very well known, my goal is to effectively apply them to my research projects as well as to develop easier assays to solve the hypotheses. Finally, I expect that these modified and developed methods will provide a potential approach to search for the mechanism and cellular signaling of transmembrane proteins.
PI: Christina Chan