Marutpong Detarya, PhD

I am interested in the glycosylation and glycobiology research, especially in the regulation of protein glycosylation biosynthesis and its contribution to human diseases. My academic training and research experiences have provided me with an excellent background in multiple disciplines including biochemistry, molecular biology, cellular biology, and genetics. During my graduate studies, my research focuses on the effect of O-GalNAcylation, the initial sugar modification of proteins for O-like glycosylation biosynthesis inside the cells, on the progression of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) cells. This experience deepened my knowledge in glycobiology and cancer biology. Moreover, during my Ph.D., I had the opportunity to conduct research at Kumamoto University, Japan. I have done proteomic analysis of CCA cells and identified the GalNAcylated proteins, which related to CCA aggressiveness, using mass spectrometry. Then, I have continue worked in Prof. Dr. Sopit Wongkham's Lab to complete my Ph.D. studies. We elucidated the significance of O-GalNAcylation on epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression and function. After that, I was a research assistant at Department of Tumor Genetics and Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Kumamoto University,. I'm have research training for cancer stem cells experiments and Mass spectrometry-base proteomics technology.

I'm a postdoctoral associate at Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Yale School of Medicine, under supervision Prof. Dr. Joseph N. Contessa. I'm on going research training for genome editing using CRISPR based technology to introduce specific mutations into genes of interest. We establish site-directed mutagenesis of PIK3CA using CRISPR base editing in Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC). Results from our study provide the superior PIK3CA mutations model, reveal insight molecular mechanism of activating PI3K mutations and suggested therapeutic strategies for HNSCC patient.