Ziwei Wang Research Lab
Ziwei Wang, MD, PhD
- Research Assistant Professor, Renaissance School of Medicine
Office: 631-722-2623
Email: Ziwei.Wang@stonybrook.edu
Stony Brook Cancer CenterMART, Level 8
Lauterbur Drive
Stony Brook, NY 11794
Research Program
Department
Research Interest
The mechanisms by which environmental toxicants, such as arsenic and 1,4-dioxane, disrupt cellular homeostasis and drive malignant transformation remain incompletely understood. Using an integrated approach that combines biochemistry, CRISPR gene editing, multi-omics, 3D chromatin profiling, and computational analyses, our recent findings highlight critical roles of the stress-responsive transcription factors Nrf2 and AhR in orchestrating the epigenetic and metabolic responses to toxicant exposure. Prior studies have shown that chronic arsenic exposure activates Nrf2 and impairs PRC2 function, leading to imbalanced histone methylation, metabolic reprogramming, and the emergence of oncogenic stemness in human iPSCs and lung epithelial cells. In parallel, through extracellular vesicle (EV) isolation and proteomic profiling, we have demonstrated that Nrf2 promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) by modulating EV cargo composition in response to 1,4-dioxane exposure. The long-term goal of my research is to mitigate the adverse health effects of environmental risk factors and to develop novel strategies for the prevention and treatment of cancers arising from environmental exposure.
Education
- BSc, Preventive Medicine, Central South University, P.R. China
- MD and PhD, Hygiene Toxicology, Sun Yat-sen University, P.R. China
- Postdoc, Pathology, Stony Brook University, New York