Research Areas

Mechanisms of carcinogenesis and its prevention, including development of new animal models for colon ad prostate cancers as well as studies on the inhibition of carcinogenesis by tea constituents, tocopherols, and their combination with commonly used drugs. Research is being conducted in animal models, on molecular investigation with cell lines, and in humans.

Research Highlights

• Development of animal models for colon and prostate cancers using humanized CYP1A mice and PhIP (a dietary carcinogen) to study dietary cancer prevention.
• Elucidation of the cancer preventive activities and mechanisms of action of green tea polyphenols.
• Demonstration of the broad cancer prevention activities of tocopherols, especially the higher activity of d-tocopherol than g-tocopherol, and the ineffectiveness of a-tocopherol.
• Elucidation of the inhibition of the interactions between cancer cells and myeloid derived suppressor cells in vivo and in vitro by curcumin.
• Conducting translational research on tocopherols in prostate cancer patients.

Scholarly Activities

• Conduct research as described above.
• Teach a course on “Diet, Nutrition and Disease Prevention in Pharmacy Practice” and lecture in the course “Molecular Biology and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology.”
• Serve as a Leader of the Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention Program of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey.
• Serve on editorial board of several scientific journals and currently editing a special volume on “Tea and Health” for Pharmacological Research.

Recent Publications

1. Cho, Y-J, Shin, SY, Yang, J, Kim, HK, Rintarhat, P, Park, M, Sung, M, Lagree, K, Underhill, DM, Lee, D-W et al.. Live Malassezia strains from the mucosa of patients with ulcerative colitis: pathogenic potential and environmental adaptations. mBio. 2025; :e0140025. doi: 10.1128/mbio.01400-25. PubMed PMID:40511923
2. Zhang, LJ, Qi, Y, Sun, CY, Yang, L, Yang, CS. Tumefactive demyelination as the first presentation of MOG ab-associated disease. J Neuroimmunol. 2025;406 :578653. doi: 10.1016/j.jneuroim.2025.578653. PubMed PMID:40479755
3. Lin, YJ, Chen, SL, Lu, YC, Lin, XM, Mao, YC, Chen, MY, Yang, CS, Chen, TY, Li, KC, Tu, WC et al.. Deep Learning-Assisted Diagnostic System: Implant Brand Detection Using Improved IB-YOLOv10 in Periapical Radiographs. Diagnostics (Basel). 2025;15 (10):. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics15101194. PubMed PMID:40428187 PubMed Central PMC12109894
4. Ko, LN, Lim, GZ, Chen, JC, Ko, T, Li, GY, Yang, CS. Rhodopsin from Haloquadratum walsbyi is a light-driven magnesium transporter. Nat Commun. 2025;16 (1):4472. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-59795-y. PubMed PMID:40368960 PubMed Central PMC12078690
5. Zhao, G, Yang, L, Ge, Y, Qiu, Z, Tang, D, Fang, Y, Ban, Q, Yang, CS, Zhang, J. Tea drinking effectively improves symptoms of diabetes and prevents hepatorenal damage in mice. Food Res Int. 2025;211 :116502. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2025.116502. PubMed PMID:40356150
6. Liu, FC, Lin, WJ, McMillan, L, Yang, CS. Fire ants exhibit self-medication but lack preventive behavioral immunity against a viral pathogen. J Invertebr Pathol. 2025;211 :108339. doi: 10.1016/j.jip.2025.108339. PubMed PMID:40287053
7. Lin, WJ, Liu, FC, Huang, XY, Del Pozo-Valdivia, AI, Leskey, TC, Yang, CS. What you eat is what we need: using ants to detect spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) DNA. Pest Manag Sci. 2025; :. doi: 10.1002/ps.8814. PubMed PMID:40270475