Kyunghee Choi, PhD

Division

• Immunobiology

Education

• BS, Seoul National University, Korea
• MS, Seoul National University, Korea
• PhD, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL

Research Interests

Hematopoietic and endothelial development 
We study hematopoietic and endothelial cell development. We focus on the molecular mechanisms that control mesoderm commitment to the hematopoietic and endothelial cell lineages. Particularly, we investigate the interaction among VEGF, Flk1, and an ETS transcription factor ETV2, as these three factors play a deterministic role in the formation of hematopoietic and endothelial cells. We have expertise in hematopoietic, vascular, and stem cell biology and stem cell applications.

Hematopoiesis and angiogenesis in cancer
We study hematopoiesis and angiogenesis in the context of cancer. Particularly, we investigate mechanisms that lead to hematopoietic stem and progenitor changes in the tumor.  We also investigate mechanisms by which tumor angiogenesis affects tumor immunity. We hope to apply the knowledge obtained from these studies to ultimately modulate tumor immunity and tumor growth.

DBBS Affiliations

• Developmental, Regenerative and Stem Cell Biology Program
• Immunology Program
• Cancer Biology Program
• Molecular Cell Biology Program

Selected Publications

Kabir, A.U., Subramanian, M., Lee, D.H., Wang, X., Krchma, K. Wu, J., Naismith, T., Halabi, C.M., Kim, J.Y., Pulous, F., Petrich, B., Kim, S., Park, H-C., Hanson, P.I., Pan, H., Wickline, S.A., Fremont, D.H., Park, C., and Choi, K. 2021. Dual role of endothelial Myct1 in tumor angiogenesis and tumor immunity. Science Translational Medicine 13(583):eabb6731.

Wu, J., Krchma, K., Lee, H.J., Prabhakar, S., Wang, X., Zhao, H., Xing, X., Seong, R.H., Fremont, D.H., Artyomov, M.N., Wang, T. and, Choi K. 2020. Requisite Chromatin Remodeling for Myeloid and Erythroid Lineage Differentiation from Erythromyeloid Progenitors. Cell Rep. 33(7):108395.

Zhao, H. and Choi, K. 2019.Single cell transcriptome dynamics from pluripotency to FLK1+ mesoderm. Development. 146(23). pii: dev182097. doi: 10.1242/dev.182097.

Kabir, A.U., Lee, T-J., Pan, H., Berry, J.C., Krchma, K., Wu, J., Liu, F., Kang, H-K., Hinman, K., Yang, L., Hamilton, S., Novack, D.V., Mecham, R.P., Wickline, S.A., Miller, M.J. and Choi, K. 2018. Requisite endothelial reactivation and effective siRNA nanoparticle targeting of Etv2/Er71 in tumor angiogenesis. JCI Insight. 3(8):e97349. doi:10.1172/jci.insight.97349.

Zhao, H., and Choi, K. 2017. A CRISPR screen identifies genes controlling Etv2 threshold expression in hemangiogenic fate commitment. Nature Communications. 8(1):541. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-00667-5.

Xu, C., Lee, T., Sakurai, N., Krchma, K., Liu, F., Li, D., Wang, T. and Choi, K. 2017. ETV2/ER71 regulates hematopoietic regeneration through hematopoietic stem cell proliferation. J. Exp. Med. 214(6):1643-1653.

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Assistant
Randi Lee
314-273-1733
Lee.r@wustl.edu

Lab Phone: 314-362-9045
Office Location: BJC-IH Building, Room 8215