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  Children's Hospital Research  Children's Hospital Labs
Sung-Yun Pai, MD  Children's logo  Harvard logo
 Sung-Yun Pai, MD
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   Department  Hematology/Oncology
   Hospital Title 
   Academic Title  Assistant Professor in Pediatrics
   Phone  617-919-2508
   Fax  617-730-0934
   Email  Sung-Yun Pai
   Location  Karp Family Research Laboratories
Room 08214
One Blackfan Circle
Boston, MA 02115
Research Overview
The Pai laboratory focuses on the transcriptional regulation of T cell development and function. Using a conditional mouse model in which the transcription factor GATA-3 is deleted in the thymus, Dr. Pai showed that GATA-3 is required for the generation of CD4 + thymocytes and T cells. In addition, she showed that GATA-3 is necessary for the development of peripheral T cells into T helper type 2 (Th2) cells that are responsible for IL-4, IL5, IL-10 and IL-13 production. Her laboratory is currently working to define the GATA-3 transcriptional targets that drive CD4 T cell development. Such targets are expected to have important roles in CD4 T cell generation and survival, and thus could be used therapeutically to improve immune reconstitution in a variety of clinical states, such as in the post-hematopoietic stem cell transplantation setting.

The Pai laboratory is also enrolling patients on a clinical research protocol in which bone marrow samples from primary immunodeficiency patients are used to define and characterize naturally occurring blocks in T cell development. This novel approach to studying human immunodeficiency will allow her laboratory to discover new molecular defects responsible for aberrant T cell development.
About Sung-Yun Pai
Dr. Pai received her MD degree with honors from Harvard Medical School in 1994. She trained in pediatrics at Children's Hospital in Boston from 1994 to 1997 and in pediatric hematology-oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Children's Hospital Boston from 1998 to 2001.

She has been on staff at Children's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute since 2001. As Associate Chief of Primary Immunodeficiency Disorders she evaluates patients with primary immunodeficiency for curative hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
Key Publications
  • Pai SY, Kang BY, Sabadini A , Parisini E, Truitt ML, Ho IC. Distinct Structural Requirements of GATA-3 in the Regulation of Thymocyte and Th2 Cell Differentiation. J. Immunol 2008 Jan 15; 180 (2): 1050-1059.

  • Kim PJ, Pai SY, Brigl M, Besra GS, Gumperz J, Ho IC. GATA-3 Regulates the Development and Function of Invariant NKT Cells. J. Immunol. 2006 Nov 15; 177 (10): 6650-6659.

  • Pai SY, DeMartiis D, Forino C, Cavagnini S, Lanfranchi A, Giliani S, Moratto D, Porta F, Imberti, L, Notarangelo LD, Mazzolari, E. Stem cell transplantation for the Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome: a single-center experience confirms efficacy of matched unrelated donor transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant. 2006 Nov; 38 (10): 671-679.

  • Pai SY, Truitt ML, Ho IC. GATA-3 deficiency abrogates the development and maintenance of Th2 cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci 2004; 101: 1993-1998.

  • Pai SY, Truitt ML, Ting CN, Leiden JM, Glimcher LH, Ho IC. Critical roles for transcription factor GATA-3 in thymocyte development. Immunity 2003; 19: 863-875.

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