Research Interests

• Our laboratory studies the function of exchange protein directly activated by cAMP (Epac)-1 in melanoma progression. We have found that expression of Epac1 is higher in metastatic melanoma than in primary melanoma. Human melanoma cell lines demonstrated that Epac1 significantly increases cell migration. The mechanisms underlying Epac1-induced cell migration involves modification of heparan sulfate, and regulation of calcium homeostasis. Our goal in this project is understating molecular mechanism(s) of Epac1-meidated melanoma metastasis, and developing a small molecule(s) that can inhibit Epac1, leading a novel therapy for melanoma.