Research Expertise

Research Interests
Our laboratory is interested in the genetics of cancer and in particular, how genetic alterations affecting processes such as RNA splicing drive cancer and expose potential therapeutic vulnerabilities.

Keywords
Cancer biology; Lung cancer; Genome editing; RNA splicing; Next-generation sequencing; Synthetic lethality

Research Details
Alternative splicing is an essential mode of gene regulation that greatly diversifies the coding potential of the transcriptome. However, this process is often dysregulated in human cancer. Recent large-scale genomic surveys of multiple cancer types have identified somatic alterations in splicing factors and other RNA-binding proteins, demonstrating that global changes in RNA processing can play a significant role in tumorigenesis. Despite our ability to comprehensively detect the landscape of alternatively spliced transcripts through next-generation sequencing, it has remained difficult to predict much of the functional impact of aberrant splicing.
Our group aims to decipher how patterns of alternative splicing control cellular processes, and when perturbed, can lead to pathogenic states such as cancer. We are particularly interested in characterizing RNA-binding proteins known to be mutated in cancer and their functional role in alternative splicing and other steps in RNA processing. We are also interested in understanding how the expression of specific isoforms may regulate fundamental pathways involved in cell division and cell death. To tackle these questions, we make extensive use of genome editing to engineer faithful models of cancer-associated mutations and more rapidly characterize the function of alternatively spliced isoforms. We are also applying genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 screens to identify genotype-specific dependencies in a systematic and unbiased fashion.

Rotation Projects
Potential rotation projects include (but are not limited to):
-Characterization of cancer-specific alternative splicing
-Role of RNA-binding proteins in tumor suppression

Please contact Peter Choi (choip@email.chop.edu) for further details.

Lab Personnel
Amanda Lee - PhD Graduate Student (CAMB CB Program)
Amanda Weiss - PhD Graduate Student (CAMB G&E Program)
Josue Medor - PhD Graduate Student (CAMB CB Program)
Anna Tangiyan - Research Technician
Benjamin Wales-McGrath - PhD Graduate Student (CAMB G&E Program)
Isha Singh - Undergraduate

Education

BS (Biology), Cornell University, 2002
PhD (Immunology), Stanford University, 2012

Specialty Certification

Postgraduate Training

Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Medicine, Stanford University, 2012
Research Fellow, Department of Medical Oncology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, 2012-16
Postdoctoral Scholar, Cancer Program, Broad Institute, 2012-18

Awards and Honors

International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, Fellowship Award, 2013-15
Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship Award, 2015-16
Pathway to Independence Award, 2016-18

Memberships and Professional Organizations

Cell and Molecular Biology Graduate Group (CAMB), University of Pennsylvania, 2019-present
-------- CAMB Cancer Biology Graduate Admissions Committee, 2021-present
Tumor Biology Program, Abramson Cancer Center, Penn Medicine, 2020-present
RNA Society, 2022-present

Web Links

Selected Publications