The major goal of my research is to study the pancreatic cancer (PC) pathogenesis and develop new therapies. Current projects include the role of zinc transporter ZIP4 in PC, the therapeutic potential for ZIP4 shRNA-based treatment, the function of microRNAs in ZIP4-mediated PC growth, signaling transduction and metabolism in PC, and cancer genomic sequencing. Our group is the first to identify a key zinc transporter ZIP4, which is aberrantly expressed in PC, and promotes cancer growth and metastasis. Our group has published more than 120 papers in the above mentioned research area. I have a track record of mentoring junior faculties, postdoctoral fellows, students, surgical fellows, residents, and visiting scholars nationally and internationally. We have obtained both federal (NIH R01s and R21s) and private foundation grants to support our research. I am a member of many NIH study sections, and other funding agencies, and I serve as Associate Editor, Editor-in-Chief, and editorial board member for many peer reviewed scientific journals.