Joint Fellowship Training Program Fellows Yifeng Jia, Ph.D. Phone:   301-827-0826 E-Mail:   yifeng.jia@fda.hhs.gov Professional Background Dr. Jia received her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 2002 in cell and molecular biology. She did post-doctoral training in the NCI Laboratory of Pathology. She began the NCI/FDA Oncology Product Research/Review Fellowship program in October 2006. Research Interests Dr. Jia's postdoctoral research concerned the role of integrins in breast cancer. CD151 is a member of the tetraspanin proteins and increased CD151 expression has been observed in variety of human cancers in association with a high metastatic rate. Recently, she and her colleagues discovered that CD151 phosphorylation is coupled with IGF1-induced alpha3beta1 activation. They identified threonine 9 as a CD151 phosphorylation site, developed the CD151 phospho-mutants, and isolated stable clones expressing CD151-wt or the phospho-mutant proteins from human breast cancer MDA-MB231 cells. The results demonstrated that the phosphorylation of CD151 plays an important role in the regulation of alpha3beta1 function. Dr. Jia and her colleagues are currently examining the in vivo effect of CD151 phosphorylation on tumor metastasis and studying the downstream signal pathways of alpha3beta1 in response to CD151 phosphorylation. Fellowship Experiences "The highlight of my FDA/NCI fellowship is to learn the cutting-edge knowledge about stem cell research and clinical development. It provides me the opportunity not only to gain skills to conduct stem cell research but also to attend meetings, workshops, training, and classes to learn the regulations and policies about biomedical products in general. The hands-on experiences at the bench and product review levels have helped me to develop a broader perspective regarding to stem cell-based therapeutics and a better understanding of the role and needs of regulatory policy during the process of translating research discoveries into clinical applications." Career Goals “I am aiming to attain a position where I can utilize my research skills and the regulatory experience to make a contribution to the development of stem cell-based therapies and to facilitate the translation of bench discoveries into clinical applications.”

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