Jun Sun, Ph.D., is a Research Assistant Professor in the Division of Hematology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He earned his Ph.D. under the mentorship of Dr. Benita S. Katzenellenbogen at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and completed his postdoctoral training with Dr. Joyce Slingerland at the University of Miami. He later continued his research with Dr. Marc Lippman before being recruited by Dr. Stephen Nimer.
Dr. Sun’s research focuses on transcriptional regulation in cancer cells. During his Ph.D. studies, he identified subtype-specific ligands that regulate estrogen receptor function in breast cancer. His postdoctoral work explored how signaling pathways—such as Src kinase—modulate estrogen receptor activity. He subsequently discovered that the small GTPase protein Rac1 is a critical cofactor for estrogen receptor–mediated transcription. In addition to breast cancer, he found that Rac1 also plays a role in chromatin regulation in other cancer types, including acute myeloid leukemia (AML). His current research investigates the mechanisms by which Rac1 regulates transcription in AML.
