Yong Zhu, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor,
Division of Environmental Health Sciences
Dr. Zhu's research interests are oriented towards the use of the molecular epidemiological approach in the study of genetic susceptibility biomarkers and their interactions with environmental exposures in human disease development. Dr. Zhu has been developing and validating novel phenotypic and genotypic assays and biomarkers for several cancer types, including non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, breast, bladder, lung and prostate cancer. By utilizing various techniques in genetics, epigenetics, cytogenetics, cell biology, and computational biology, my studies have identified biomarkers that can characterize inherited predisposition and cellular response to environmental factors. Current research focuses on studying the role of two transcriptional factors, circadian genes and microRNAs, in tumorigenesis.
Education
Ph.D., Rice University, 2000
Awards and Honors
Scholar-in Trainee Award, American Association for Cancer Research, 2002
Bristol-Myers Squibb Award in Clinic/Translational Research, 2002
Courses Taught
EHS 545b, Introduction to Environmental Genetics
Current Research Projects
Molecular Epidemiology of Circadian Genes and Human Cancers; Molecular Epidemiology of Methylation-related Genes and Human Cancers; Molecular Epidemiology of Micro-RNA and Human Cancers
Selected Publications
Zhu, Y., Zheng, T., Zhang, Y., Stevens, R., and Boyle, P. Does “Clock” Matter in Prostate Cancer? Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention 15(1): 3-5, 2006.
Zhu, Y., Brown, H., Zhang, Y., Stevens, R.G., and Zheng, T. Period3 Structural Variation: A Circadian Biomarker Associated with Breast Cancer in Young Women. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention 14(1): 268-70, 2005.
Zhu, Y., Brown, H.N., Zhang, Y., Holford, T.R., and Zheng, T. A Genetic Polymorphism in the Noncoding Exon of Methyl-CpG-Binding Domain 2 Modifies Breast Cancer Risk Dependent upon Menopausal Status. Breast Cancer Research 7: R745-R752, 2005.
Zhu, Y., Spitz, M.R., Amos, C.I., Lin, J., Schabath, M.B., and Wu, X. An Evolutionary Perspective on SNP Screening in Molecular Cancer Epidemiology. Cancer Research 64: 2251-2257, 2004.
Zhu, Y., Spitz, M.R., Zhang, H., Grossman, B.H., Frazier, M.L., Wu, X . Methyl-CpG-binding Domain 2: A Protective Role in Bladder Cancer. Cancer 100(9): 1853-8, 2004.
Wu, X., Amos, C.I., Zhu, Y., Zhao, H., Grossman, B.H., Shay, J.W., Swan, G.E., Benowitz, N.L., Luo, S., and Spitz, M.R. Telomere Dysfunction: A Potential Cancer Predisposition Factor. Journal of National Cancer Institute 95(16): 1211-8, 2003.
Zhu, Y., Spitz, M.R., Strom, S., Tomlinson, G.E., Amos, C.I., Minna, J.D., and Wu, X. A Case-control Analysis of Lymphocytic Chromosome 9 Aberrations in Lung Cancer. International Journal of Cancer 102(5): 536-540, 2002.
Zhu, Y., Spitz, M.R., Lei, L., Gordon, B.M., and Wu, X. A Single Nucleotide Polymorphism in the Matrix Metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) Promoter Enhances Lung Cancer Susceptibility. Cancer Research 61: 7825-7829, 2001.
For a further list of Dr. Zhu's publications, please see PubMed.
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