Yu Sun, MD, PhD

Cancer Focus:
Brain Cancer, Glioblastoma, Meningioma, Spinal Tumor

Dr. Sun received her MD degree from Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China. She completed her PhD in Neuropharmacology and Neuroscience at Albany Medical College, New York, followed by Postdoctoral Research training at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Sun completed a combined Anatomical Pathology Residency /Neuropathology Fellowship (AP/NP) followed by Physician-Scientist Pathway training in the Department of Pathology and Cell Biology at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

Dr. Sun’s clinical interests focus on tumor classification and molecular diagnostics in neuropathology. Her research interests are in brain tumor biology and translational research, including targeted therapies, and immunotherapy for diffusely infiltrating glioma.

Education & Training

Residency:

• New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center - Combined anatomic pathology and neuropathology

Medical School:

• The Second Military Medical University - MD

• Al-Dalahmah O, Sosunov AA, Sun Y, Liu Y, Madden N, Connolly ES, Troy CM, McKhann GM, Goldman JE. The Matrix Receptor CD44 Is Present in Astrocytes throughout the Human Central Nervous System and Accumulates in Hypoxia and Seizures. Cells. 2024 Jan.13(2). Pubmedid: 38247821. Pmcid: PMC10814649.
• Al-Dalahmah O, Argenziano MG, Kannan A, Mahajan A, Furnari J, Paryani F, Boyett D, Save A, Humala N, Khan F, Li J, Lu H, Sun Y, Tuddenham JF, Goldberg AR, Dovas A, Banu MA, Sudhakar T, Bush E, Lassman AB, McKhann GM, Gill BJA, Youngerman B, Sisti MB, Bruce JN, Sims PA, Menon V, Canoll P. Re-convolving the compositional landscape of primary and recurrent glioblastoma reveals prognostic and targetable tissue states. Nat Commun. 2023 May.14(1):2586. Pubmedid: 37142563. Pmcid: PMC10160047.
• Miller ML, Griepp DW, Sun Y, Tamir S, Farber RS, Otten ML, Al-Dalahmah O. A 53-year-old woman with a rapidly progressive, non-enhancing left frontotemporal lesion. Brain Pathol. 2023 Mar.33(2):e13125. Pubmedid: 36346825. Pmcid: PMC10041067.
• Sun Y, Liu-Jarin X, Hamele-Bena D, Murty VV, Clancy E, Chen X. Ovarian Malignant Mixed Germ Cell Tumor With Prominent Embryoid Bodies (Polyembryoma Background): A Case Report and Literature Review. Int J Gynecol Pathol. 2023 Jul.42(4):426-431. Pubmedid: 36044302.
• Carberry N, Sun Y, Fayerman RN, Dugue R, Miller M, Tanji K, Goyal T, Canoll P, Brannagan TH. Leptomeningeal Disease Secondary to Thr60Ala Transthyretin Amyloidosis: Case Report and Review of the Literature. Neurohospitalist. 2023 Jan.13(1):90-95. Pubmedid: 36531853. Pmcid: PMC9755614.
• Argenziano MG, Furnari JL, Miller ML, Sun Y, Banu MA, Neira JA, Snuderl M, Bruce JN, Welch M, McCormick P, Canoll P. Thoracic low grade glial neoplasm with concurrent H3 K27M and PTPN11 mutations. Acta Neuropathol Commun. 2022 Apr.10(1):64. Pubmedid: 35484611. Pmcid: PMC9052613.
• Thomas J, Sun Y, Debelenko L. Infrequent Placental and Fetal Involvement in SARS-CoV-2 Infection: Pathology Data from a Large Medical Center. J Dev Biol. 2021 Oct.9(4). Pubmedid: 34698210. Pmcid: PMC8544396.
• May M, Raufi AG, Sadeghi S, Chen K, Iuga A, Sun Y, Ahmed F, Bates S, Manji GA. Prolonged Response to HER2-Directed Therapy in Three Patients with HER2-Amplified Metastatic Carcinoma of the Biliary System: Case Study and Review of the Literature. Oncologist. 2021 Aug.26(8):640-646. Pubmedid: 33896096. Pmcid: PMC8342570.
• De Michele S, Sun Y, Yilmaz MM, Katsyv I, Salvatore M, Dzierba AL, Marboe CC, Brodie D, Patel NM, Garcia CK, Saqi A. Forty Postmortem Examinations in COVID-19 Patients. Am J Clin Pathol. 2020 Nov.154(6):748-760. Pubmedid: 32876680. Pmcid: PMC7499554.
• Reitman ZJ, Paolella BR, Bergthold G, Pelton K, Becker S, Jones R, Sinai CE, Malkin H, Huang Y, Grimmet L, Herbert ZT, Sun Y, Weatherbee JL, Alberta JA, Daley JF, Rozenblatt-Rosen O, Condurat AL, Qian K, Khadka P, Segal RA, Haas-Kogan D, Filbin MG, Suva ML, Regev A, Stiles CD, Kieran MW, Goumnerova L, Ligon KL, Shalek AK, Bandopadhayay P, Beroukhim R. Mitogenic and progenitor gene programmes in single pilocytic astrocytoma cells. Nat Commun. 2019 Aug.10(1):3731. Pubmedid: 31427603. Pmcid: PMC6700116.
• Zhou J, Tien AC, Alberta JA, Ficarro SB, Griveau A, Sun Y, Deshpande JS, Card JD, Morgan-Smith M, Michowski W, Hashizume R, James CD, Ligon KL, Snider WD, Sicinski P, Marto JA, Rowitch DH, Stiles CD. A Sequentially Priming Phosphorylation Cascade Activates the Gliomagenic Transcription Factor Olig2. Cell Rep. 2017 Mar.18(13):3167-3177. Pubmedid: 28355568. Pmcid: PMC5394178.
• Sun Y, Alberta JA, Pilarz C, Calligaris D, Chadwick EJ, Ramkissoon SH, Ramkissoon LA, Garcia VM, Mazzola E, Goumnerova L, Kane M, Yao Z, Kieran MW, Ligon KL, Hahn WC, Garraway LA, Rosen N, Gray NS, Agar NY, Buhrlage SJ, Segal RA, Stiles CD. A brain-penetrant RAF dimer antagonist for the noncanonical BRAF oncoprotein of pediatric low-grade astrocytomas. Neurooncol. 2017 Jun.19(6):774-785. Pubmedid: 28082416. Pmcid: PMC5464455.
• Ni J, Xie S, Ramkissoon SH, Luu V, Sun Y, Bandopadhayay P, Beroukhim R, Roberts TM, Stiles CD, Segal RA, Ligon KL, Hahn WC, Zhao JJ. Tyrosine receptor kinase B is a drug target in astrocytomas. Neurooncol. 2017 Jan.19(1):22-30. Pubmedid: 27402815. Pmcid: PMC5193024.
• Singh SK, Fiorelli R, Kupp R, Rajan S, Szeto E, Lo Cascio C, Maire CL, Sun Y, Alberta JA, Eschbacher JM, Ligon KL, Berens ME, Sanai N, Mehta S. Post-translational Modifications of OLIG2 Regulate Glioma Invasion through the TGF-β Pathway. Cell Rep. 2016 Jul.16(4):950-966. Pubmedid: 27396340. Pmcid: PMC4963280.
• Chadwick EJ, Yang DP, Filbin MG, Mazzola E, Sun Y, Behar O, Pazyra-Murphy MF, Goumnerova L, Ligon KL, Stiles CD, Segal RA. A Brain Tumor/Organotypic Slice Co-culture System for Studying Tumor Microenvironment and Targeted Drug Therapies. J Vis Exp. 2015 Nov.(105):e53304. Pubmedid: 26575352. Pmcid: PMC4692695.
• Meijer DH, Sun Y, Liu T, Kane MF, Alberta JA, Adelmant G, Kupp R, Marto JA, Rowitch DH, Nakatani Y, Stiles CD, Mehta S. An amino terminal phosphorylation motif regulates intranuclear compartmentalization of Olig2 in neural progenitor cells. J Neurosci. 2014 Jun.34(25):8507-8518. Pubmedid: 24948806. Pmcid: PMC4061392.
• Filbin MG, Dabral SK, Pazyra-Murphy MF, Ramkissoon S, Kung AL, Pak E, Chung J, Theisen MA, Sun Y, Franchetti Y, Sun Y, Shulman DS, Redjal N, Tabak B, Beroukhim R, Wang Q, Zhao J, Dorsch M, Buonamici S, Ligon KL, Kelleher JF, Segal RA. Coordinate activation of Shh and PI3K signaling in PTEN-deficient glioblastoma: new therapeutic opportunities. Nat Med. 2013 Nov.19(11):1518-1523. Pubmedid: 24076665. Pmcid: PMC3923315.
• Sun Y, Meijer DH, Alberta JA, Mehta S, Kane MF, Tien AC, Fu H, Petryniak MA, Potter GB, Liu Z, Powers JF, Runquist IS, Rowitch DH, Stiles CD. Phosphorylation state of Olig2 regulates proliferation of neural progenitors. Neuron. 2011 Mar.69(5):906-917. Pubmedid: 21382551. Pmcid: PMC3065213.
• Kokovay E, Goderie S, Wang Y, Lotz S, Lin G, Sun Y, Roysam B, Shen Q, Temple S. Adult SVZ lineage cells home to and leave the vascular niche via differential responses to SDF1/CXCR4 signaling. Cell Stem Cell. 2010 Aug.7(2):163-173. Pubmedid: 20682445. Pmcid: PMC2916873.
• Sun Y, Goderie SK, Temple S. Asymmetric distribution of EGFR receptor during mitosis generates diverse CNS progenitor cells. Neuron. 2005 Mar.45(6):873-886. Pubmedid: 15797549.
• Shen Q, Goderie SK, Jin L, Karanth N, Sun Y, Abramova N, Vincent P, Pumiglia K, Temple S. Endothelial cells stimulate self-renewal and expand neurogenesis of neural stem cells. Science. 2004 May.304(5675):1338-1340. Pubmedid: 15060285.
• He XH, Wu SQ, Zhang DX, Sun Y, Zhu C, Xiang ZH, Meng L. Effect of psychological stress on ex- pression of somatostatin mRNA neurons in rat hypothalamus. Chinese Journal of Anatomy. 1999 Jan.22(4):276-279.
• Tang SP, Sun Y, Xiang ZH. Purification and its application of digoxigenin-labeled rhGHRF cRNA probe. Chinese Journal of Anatomy. 1999 Jan.21(1):18-21.