Dr. Zhao's research interests focus on the identification of genomic profiles responsible for cancer progression as well as for chemo- and radio-therapeutic resistance. His current research includes: 1) Identification of unique signature of signaling(s) dysregulated in cancer stem cells, especially the potential role of DNA repair capacity in caner stem cells for their escape of conventional therapies, and further development of cancer stem cell-targeted therapies in cancer treatment; 2) Elucidating the molecular mechanism(s) of cellular adhesion protein in the regulation of immune response tumor metastasis and further chemotherapeutic resistance.
Group Leader
Dr. Zhao received his Bachelor degree in Preventive Medicine from China Medical University in 1986 and Ph.D. degree in Molecular Biology and Toxicology from Institute of Radiation Medicine, Chinese Academy of Military and Medical Sciences in 1995.
In 1998, he joined as a postdoctoral research fellow in the center for Radiological Research at Columbia University, and mainly worked on the molecular mechanisms of asbestos fiber/radiation-induced carcinogenesis. His early studies demonstrated, for the first time, that loss of TGFBI (known as Big-h3, TGF-Beta-induced) function was causally linked to human tumor progression. In 2003, he got his independent research funding from NASA agency and was then promoted to a Tenure-track Assistant Professor. Since then, he has been leading a group to systemically characterize the tumor suppressor function of TGFBI gene using in vitro cell culture and in vivo transgenic mouse model systems. One part of his studies published in Cancer Research identified the causal role of CpG promoter hypermethylation in the silence of TGFBI promoter in different origins of human cancer cells. The in vivo studies based on TGFBI-null mice have been finished and the results have been published in Cancer Research. The potential role of TGFBI loss in the defect of immune response and the chemotherapeutic resistance of human cancer cells are under investigation.
Dr. Zhao as an independent investigator has been awarded a number of funding supports with nearly $2.4 million, including Research Seed Grant by RSNA and Education Foundation ($30,000; 2002-2003)Research Pilot Grant by NIEHS center for Environmental Health in Northern Manhattan, Mailman School of public Health at Columbia University ($25,000; 2002-2003)Pilot grant by Center for High-Throughput minimally-invasive Radiation Biodosimetry ($70,000; 2007-2008) NASA research funding ($993,700; 2003-2008) and NIH/NCI RO1 funding ($1,350,000; 2008-2012).
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