Dr. Fui Boon Kai
Positions
Primary Member
The Calvin, Phoebe and Joan Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases
Affiliations
Adjunct Professor
Cumming School of Medicine, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology
Member
Arnie Charbonneau Cancer Institute
Contact information
Location
Office: HRIC4C46
Background
Biography
Dr. Kai completed undergraduate and graduate training at Dalhousie University. As a PhD student in Roy Duncan’s lab, she characterized the function of the actin-binding protein synaptopodin-2 (Synpo2) and revealed novel roles for Synpo2 in regulating focal adhesion dynamics and membrane protrusion formation during prostate cancer cell migration. To build upon her expertise in actin dynamics and gain understanding of how cells sense and respond to their microenvironment via focal adhesions, she pursued postdoctoral training with Dr. Valerie Weaver, a world-renowned expert in ECM biology and mechanobiology (University of California, San Francisco). She spearheaded an effort to determine how ECM mechanics and topography influence cellular actin tension to modulate cancer cell signaling and behaviors. After her postdoctoral training, she returned to Canada and joined the Lung Health Research Group at Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases, University of Calgary. Although ECM dysregulation is a hallmark of various fibrotic lung diseases (e.g. idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and asthma), the molecular mechanisms that cells sense and respond to pathological ECM remain largely unclear. Her research employs a combination of biophysical, bioengineering, and biochemical approaches to unravel the role of ECM dysregulation in fibrotic lung diseases. She believes that greater understanding the aberrant crosstalk between cells and the ECM will reveal the best strategies to target mechanically regulated signaling pathways for therapeutic benefit in lung disease.
Research
Areas of Research
- Extracellular matrix dysregulation in fibrotic diseases
Although extracellular matrix (ECM) dysregulation is a hallmark of various fibrotic diseases including lung cancer and pulmonary fibrosis, the molecular mechanisms that cells sense and respond to pathological ECM remain largely unclear. Dr. Kai's research program employs a combination of biophysical, bioengineering, and biochemical approaches to understand how ECM dysregulation affects lung cell fate decisions and function. Better understanding of pathological cell-ECM crosstalk will reveal the best strategies to target ECM-regulated signaling pathways for therapeutic benefit in fibrotic conditions including solid cancers.
Awards
- Lung Health Foundation Emerging Scholar Research Award, Lung Health Foundation. 2024
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research Research Excellence, Diversity and Independence (REDI) Early Career Transition Award, Canadian Institutes of Health Research. 2024
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research Postdoctoral Fellowship , Canadian Institutes of Health Research. 2016
- Edward F. Crease Memorial Graduate Studentship in Cancer Research , Beatrice Hunter Cancer Research Institute. 2011
- Cancer Research Training Program (CRTP) Award , Beatrice Hunter Cancer Research Institute. 2009
- Norah Stephen Oncology Scholars Award , 2007
Publications
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