Hyunsook Park, PhD
Assistant Professor
Dept of Biological Sciences
Back to Department of Biological Sciences
Office:
ASC Rm353
Phone: (323) 343-2060
E-mail
address:
hpark8@calstatela.edu
Office Hour : Please contact the department office (BS143) to schedule
an appointment
BACKGROUND
Dr.Park received her Ph.D. Microbiology from Ewha Womans University (Seoul, Korea) in 2002, followed by postdoctoral training in mycology and molecular biology at the Division of Infectious Diseases, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. Dr. Park joined the Department of Biological Sciences at Cal State LA in 2008.
TEACHING INTERESTS
Dr. Park currently teaches lecture courses in General Microbiology, Molecular Genetics and Fungal pathogenesis. She also teaches lab courses in Genearal Microbiology, Clinical Microbiology, and Pathogenic Bacteria. In addition, she provides research training to the students in the Department of Biological Sciences.
LECTURE MATERIALS
The lecture contents will be found on Moodle
RESEARCH
Our research focuses on host-pathogen interactions in
infectious disease. In particular, we have focused on the pathogenic
mechanisms of
the opportunisitic human pathogenic fungus, Candida albicans. Candida albicans causes
variety of infection with significant morbidity and mortality in a
large, diverse population of immunocompromised patients. This suggests
that C. albicans possesses
unique characteristics that enable it to colonize in the host and cause
disease when the host has immune deficiency. Interestingly, C. albicans
interacts with oral epithelial cells during oropharyngeal candidiasis
and with vascular endothelial cells when it disseminates
hematogenously. Particularly, the ability of C. albicans to
adhere, invade and injure human endothelial cells and oral epithelial
cells is believed as a critical step to establish the infection. Our
previous work has demonstrated that some C. albicans mutants
with reduced ability to injure oral epithelial cells in vitro have also
attenuated virulence in the mouse model of oropharyngeal
candidiasis. Therefore, the in vitro epithelial cell interaction
model is a great screening tool to identify mutants with virulence
defects. Our research has focused on three different categories; (1) C. albicans virulence factors that play key role in host-pathogen interaction, (2) Key regulators (especially singaling cascaed) governing C. albicans virulence, (3) C. albicans response to antimicrobial peptides.
| Date | Recent Publications |
| 2012 | Phan QT, Eng DK, Mostowy S, Park H, Cossart P, and Filler SG. Role of Endothelial Cell Septin 7 in the Endocytosis of Candida albicans. J. Cell Sci. |
| 2009 | Park H, Liu Y, Solis N, Spotkov J, Hamaker J, Blankenship JR, Yeaman MR, Mitchell AP, Liu H and Filler SG. Transcriptional responses of Candida albicans to epithelial and endothelial cells. Eukaryotic Cell 8:1498-1510 |
| 2008 | Gank KD, Yeaman MR, Kojima S, Yount NY, Park H, Edwards, Jr. JE, Filler SG, and Fu Y. SSD1 is Integral to Host Defense Peptide Resistance in Candida albicans. Eukaryot Cell 7(8):1318-1327 |
| 2008 | Barker KS, Park H, Phan QT, Xu L, Homayouni R, Rogers PD, Filler SG. Transcriptome Profile of the Vascular Endothelial Cell Response to Candida albicans. J. Infect Dis. 198:193–202 (contributed equally) |
| 2008 | Goyard S, Knechtle P, Chauvel M, Mallet A, Prévost MC, Proux C, Coppée JY, Schwartz P, Dromer F, Park H, Filler SG, Janbon G, d'Enfert C. The Yak1 Kinase is Involved in the Initiation and Maintenance of Hyphal Growth in Candida albicans. Mol Biol Cell.19(5), 2251-2266 |
| 2007 | Thewes S, Kretschmar M, Park H, Schaller M, Filler SG, Hube B. In vivo and ex vivo comparative transcriptional profiling of invasive and non-invasive Candida albicans isolates identifies genes associated with tissue invasion. Mol Microbiol. 2007 Mar;63(6):1606-28. |
| 2006 |
Martinez-Lopez R, Park H, Myers CL, Gil C, Filler SG. Candida albicans Ecm33p is important for normal cell wall architecture and interactions with host cells. Eukaryot Cell. 2006 Jan;5(1):140-7 |
| 2005 |
Park H, Myers CL, Sheppard DC, Phan QT, Sanchez AA, E Edwards J, Filler SG. Role of the fungal Ras-protein kinase A pathway in governing epithelial cell interactions during oropharyngeal candidiasis. Cell Microbiol. 2005 Apr;7(4):499-510. |
| 2003 |
Choi S, Park N, Park H, Park M, Woo J, Choi W
Interacting domain between yeast chitin synthase 3 and chitin
synthase 4 is involved in angiogenesis of chitin ring, but not for
cell wall chitin. J Microbiol Biotechnol 13:263-268 |
| 2002 | Park H, Choi S, Park N, Kim C, Kim S, Choi W Identification of a domain in yeast chitin synthase 3 interacting with chitin synthase 4 by two hybrid analysis. J Microbiol Biotechnol 12:943-949 |
| 2002 | Kim M, Park H, C Kim, Park H, Choi W Inhibition of chitin synthases by nikkomycin is dependent on media composition in Candida albicans. Yeast 19:341-349. |
| 2001 | Min J, Lee Y, Kim Y, Park H, Han S, Jhon G-J, Choi W Lysophosphatidylcholine derived from deer antler extract suppresses hyphal transition in Candida albicans through MAP kinase activity. Biochim Biophysica Acta 1531:77-89. |
| 1998 | Park H, Jhon G-J, Choi W Hyphal growth inhibition by deer antler extract mimics the effect of chitin synthase deletion in Candida albicans. J Microbiol Biotechnol 8:422-425 |
| 1998 | Park H, John G-J, Choi W 1998 Deer antler extract selectively suppresses hyphal growth in dimorphic fungus, Candida albicans. J Microbiol Biotechnol 8:291-294 |
Ph.D. Microbiology (emphasis in mycology and molecular biology) 2002
Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea
M.S. Microbiology 1998
Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea
B.S. Biology (Minor: Science Education) 1996
Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea