Jun Sun PhD

Dr. Jun Sun is currently a tenured Associate Professor at UIC, Chicago, IL, U.S.A.. She was a tenured Associate Professor at Rush University, Chicago (2011 - 2015). She was an Assistant Professor of Medicine, Microbiology, and Immunology at the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY (2007-2011). Before joining the University of Rochester, she served as a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago. Dr. Sun earned a M.S. from Wuhan University and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Institute of Toxicology and Pharmacology, Beijing, China. She did postdoctoral work at the National Cancer Institute, NIH for cancer research (Dr. William Stetler-Stevenson) in 2000 and Emory University for intestinal inflammation research (Dr. James Madara) in 2001. Her research interests are host-bacterial interactions in inflammation and cancer. Her key achievements include identification and characterization of the Salmonella protein AvrA that activates the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway and inhibits intestinal inflammation, identification of novel role of microbiome in ALS, and characterization of vitamin D receptor and microbiome in intestinal homeostasis and inflammation.
Dr. Sun is a fellow of American Gastroenterological Associate. She has published over 150 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals, including Cell Stem Cells, Nature Reviews, Gut, JBC, American Journal of Pathology, and American Journal of Physiology-GI. She is the senior author/corresponding author for over 60 research papers and 30 reviews. She is in the editorial board of more than 10 peer-reviewed international scientific journals. She services study sections for the NIH, American Cancer Society, and other research foundations. Her research is supported by the NIH, NY State STEM IDEAL Award, the American Cancer Society and other research awards. She is an inventor of four therapeutic patents for anti-inflammation and anti-cancer