Damon Runyon Researchers

Cell division is often described in terms of the inheritance of DNA. An equally important but less understood task of cell division is the distribution of cellular machineries responsible for decoding the genome. Dr. Tran studies how the cell’s major protein manufacturing factory, the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), is passed down through the germ cells that give rise to sperm and eggs. She is investigating whether ER inheritance plays a role in endowing germ cells with their unique properties, such as immortality and the ability to generate a new organism. Cancer cells, more so than their healthy neighbors, are highly dependent on the ER to produce building blocks to fuel their rapid growth. They also frequently tweak ER quality control mechanisms to avoid programmed cell death, typically triggered in cells experiencing persistent ER stress. Because the ER plays diverse roles in healthy cells and is frequently dysregulated in cancer, Dr. Tran’s efforts to understand basic ER biology and its inheritance within germ cells will contribute to the collective efforts to treat this heterogeneous disease. Dr. Tran received her PhD from the University of California, San Francisco and her BS from San Jose State University.