Dr. Dong’s laboratory investigates steroid receptors in collaborating with RNA splicing factors to control gene transcription and alternative RNA splicing in cells from human reproductive systems. We study how prostate cancer cells can switch off their dependency to androgens and progress into castration resistant cancers. We also study how myometrial cells can develop a functional withdrawal of progesterone at late pregnancy to change the myometrium from a dormant state to the contractile state for parturition.