Hyunyoung Jeong

Title:

Professor

PhD Granting Institution:

University of Illinois at Chicago

Contact:

Email Address: youngjeong@purdue.edu
Office Phone: 765-496-0852
Lab Website Link: https://www.jeongandleelab.org

Primary Training Group:

Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases

Secondary Training Groups:

Biotechnology, Cancer Biology

Research Areas:

We study how the gut microbiota modulates host physiology via microbial metabolites, focusing on the metabolites' roles in promoting colorectal cancer and modulating drug efficacy and toxicity.

Current Projects:

Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fn) is an opportunistic gut bacterium and has been known to be enriched in colorectal cancer (CRC) tissues, promoting CRC progression. We have found that Fn produces previously unknown metabolites that are essential for Fn-mediated promotion of CRC progression. The metabolites activate host (ligand-activated) transcription factors implicated in the promotion of cancer progression. We are investigating the roles of the Fn metabolites in promoting CRC progression.

Importance of Interdisciplinary Research:

Intestines harbor trillions of microbes that have evolved in the milieu of a diverse diet-derived small molecules. Gut microbiome (the collection of genetic materials harbored by the gut microbes) contains thousands of distinct genes with an enormous capacity to catalyze chemical reactions. Their functions, however, remains largely unknown. Jeong and Lee lab has been investigating the gut microbiota as (1) a drug-metabolizing organ and (2) a modulator of host response to drugs. Based on the expertise of Dr Jeong (a pharmacologist) and Dr Lee (a microbiologist), we identify and characterize the microbial factors involved in drug metabolism as well as host-microbe interaction that leads to altered drug efficacy and toxicity.