Prof. Xu Zhang
| Work Phone | (02) 4921 8906 |
|---|---|
| Fax | (02) 4921 7311 |
| Xu.Zhang@newcastle.edu.au | |
| Position |
Professor
School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy
|
| Office | LS3-49, Life Sciences Building |
Biography
For more than 15 years, Dr Xu Dong Zhang has focused on translational melanoma research with an overall aim to overcome resistance of metastatic melanoma to treatment. He is currently a Professor heading the Melanoma Research Laboratory (Oncology and Immunology Unit) of the University of Newcastle (UoN)/Calvary Mater Newcastle Hospital (CMN) that consists of 3 postdoctoral researchers, 2 research assistants, 2 visiting academics, 6 PhD students, 1 laboratory manager, 1 technical officer, and 1 administrative officer.
Professor Zhang has published more than 80 manuscripts in his research career. The H Factor (Index) of his publications is currently 26. In addition, He has presented my work in a large number of international and national conferences and institutional seminars, with many attendances as an invited speaker.
As a chief investigator, He has attracted a large sum of funding for his research. In the past 3 years since, he was awarded an NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship (2011), and successfully renewed, for the third consecutive time, a Cancer Institute NSW (CINSW) Fellowship (2011) that is now awarded in the form of a top-up to the NHMRC Fellowship. He is a chief investigator of a translational melanoma research program grant awarded in 2011 by CINSW, and, as Chief investigator A, he has received 2 NHMRC project grants and 2 Cancer Council NSW project grants since 2009. In addition, He is a co-chief investigator of another NHMRC project grant and a chief investigator of a number of competitive grants from other funding bodies.
Professor Zhang’s research has drawn considerable attention in the cancer research community worldwide and his contribution to melanoma research is highly regarded nationally and internationally. He regularly review manuscripts for high impact journals including Cancer Research and Oncogene, and assess grant applications for international and national funding bodies, such as Medical Research Council UK and NHMRC. He was a Grant Review Panel (GRP) member of NHMRC in 2011. His research has also drawn extensive attention from the general public, with the highlight being 4 interviews by media including the ABC in the past 3 years.
His research excellence has enabled me to establish productive collaborations with other researchers, both within academia and commercial organizations. In addition, I provide regular scientific consultancies not only locally and nationally, but also to cancer researchers of a number of highly ranked universities and institutes in China.
He has proven himself to be highly competent in supervision of research high degree students and junior researchers. Since he received my first conjoint appointment in 2005 from the University of Newcastle, two PhD students have completed their studies in excellent fashion under my supervision. During the past 3 years, two postdoctoral researchers have successfully obtained NHMRC Postdoctoral Training Fellowship under his supervision. At the current time, he is the principal supervisor of 5 PhD candidates, and a co-supervisor of another two.
Professor Zhang is a Co-Director of the Priority Research Centre (PRC) for Cancer of the Faulty of Health, and a Deputy Director of the Cancer Program of Hunter Medical Research Institute. He is also a member of various scientific and administering committees, including the HMRI Research Council, the Research Council of Hunter Translational Cancer Research Unit, and the Analytical and Biomolecular Research Facility Advisory Group of University of Newcastle.
Qualifications
- PhD, University of Sydney, 2002
- Bachelor of Medicine, Shanxi Medical University PR China, 1986
Research
Research keywords
- Oncology, Carcinogenesis, Cell Death, Signal Transduction
Research expertise
Melanoma is the most serious form of skin cancer that is often referred to as Australia's national cancer as Australia has the highest incidence of melanoma in the world. However, there is currently no curative treatment once the disease spreads beyond the original site. To address this major Australian health problem, Professor Xu Dong Zhang has been working on translational research on melanoma with a focused theme of “overcoming resistance of metastatic melanoma to treatment” for more than 15 years. In particular, he has been recognized nationally and internationally for his significant contribution to understanding resistance mecahnisms of melanoma cells to apoptosis, a form of cell death that is the main mechanism of killing of cancer cells by most anti-cancer therapeutic drugs.
Professor Zhang is currently leading the Melanoma Research Laboraotory (Oncology and Immunology Unit) of the University of Newcastle (UoN)/Calvary Mater Newcastle Hospital (CMN) that consists of 3 postdoctoral researchers, 2 research assistants, 2 visiting academics, 6 PhD students, 1 laboratory manager, 1 technical officer, and 1 administrative officer.
He pioneered two areas of the the melanoma research field, overcoming resistance of melanoma cells to apoptosis induced by TRAIL (a soluble factor that can be produced by immune cells and selectively kill cancer cells without affecting normal tissues) and examining the response of melanoma cells to a cellular stress condition termed ER stress. While his leading role in these areas has been consolidated in recent years, he has initiated a number of new projects that advance the frontier of melanoma resaerch. These include projects to address the questions “what regulates sensitivity of melanoma cells to apoptosis induced by inhibition of intracellular pro-survival signalling pathways?”, “how do a group of proteins called polyphosphate phosphatase affect melanoma cell malignancy?”, “why does the tumour suppressor p53 not function to suppress melanoma?”, and “is there any relationship between obesity and melanoma development, progression, and resistance to treatment?”.
Professor Zhang’s research program is closely allied with the research scheme of the Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA). This not only allows my team to have full access to the largest repository of melanoma-related bio-samples with linked follow-up data in the world, but also fast tracks our scientific exchanges with melanoma researchers nationally and internationally. In addition, my research program is integrated into the research strategy of the Priority Research Center (PRC) for Cancer of UoN and that of the Cancer Research Program (CRP) of the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI). This not only facilitates collaborations between his research team and other local cancer researchers, but also enables him to contribute his research expertise broadly to other cancer research programs in Newcastle.
Collaboration
Professor Zhang’s research excellence has enabled him to establish productive collaborations with other researchers, both within academia and commercial organizations. His research team has successfully completed contract work for the biocompanies, Peplin Biotechnology and Novogene Biotechnology on testing new drugs on melanoma cells. His collaborations with AstraZeneca, Roche, and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) on testing novel targeted therapeutics are ongoing. His collaborations with Drs Rick Thorne, Nicole Verrills, Nicholas Bowden, Ming Yang, Professors Rodney Scott locally, Professors Richard Kefford and Richard Scolyer and Dr Helen Rizos at the University of Sydney, Drs Tao Liu and Belamy Cheung at the University of New South Wales, and Dr Jiezhong Chen at the University of Wollongong are also continuing.
Professor Zhang provides regular scientific consultancies not only locally and nationally, but also to cancer researchers of a number of universities and institutes in China. He has been an honorary professor of Anhui Medical University since 2003, and received another honorary professorship from the Fourth Military Medical University in 2010. He was honored with a third professorship in China by Shanxi Cancer Hospital/Shanxi Cancer Institute in 2012. He was also appointed as an honorary director of the Cellular and Molecular Biology Laboratory of the same hospital/institute.
Aside from the Chinese universites and institues where Professor Zhang is an honorary professor, He has also established collaborations with researchers from other universities in China, including the Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou (Professors Xiao Shi Zhang and Xiao Feng Zhu), the Sichuan University in Chengdu (Dr Yu Fang Wang), and the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei (Professor Main Wu). All these universities are among top-20 universities in China according to 2011 ranking (the Sun Yat-sen University is ranked 10; the Sichuan University, 12; and the University of Science and Technology of China, 18). These collaborations have proven to be productive and mutually beneficial as demonstrated by collaborative publications and conference presentations.
Languages
- English
- Mandarin
Fields of Research
| Code | Description | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 111200 | Oncology And Carcinogenesis | 75 |
| 060199 | Biochemistry And Cell Biology Not Elsewhere Classified | 25 |
Centres and Groups
Centre
- Hunter Medical Research Institute
- PRC - Priority Research Centre for Bioinformatics, Biomarker Discovery and Information-Based Medicine
- PRC - Priority Research Centre for Cancer
- PRC - Priority Research Centre for Cancer
Group
Memberships
Body relevant to professional practice.
- Member - American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
- Member - the Analytical and Biomolecular Research Facility (ABRF) Advisory Group of University of Newcastle
Committee/Associations (relevant to research).
- Member - Executive Committee of Hunter Translational Cancer Research Unit (TCRU)
- Member - the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI) Cancer Research Program (CRP) Steering Committee
- Member - the ERA 2012 Cluster Advisory Group of University of Newcastle
Editorial Board.
- Member - World Journal of Gastrointestinal Oncology
- Member - The Scientific World Journal
- Member - the Chinese Journal of Stem Cells
NHMRC Committee
- Member - Grant Review Panel
Appointments
|
Senior Reserch Fellow
NHMRC (Australia) |
01/01/2011 |
|
Research Fellow
Cancer Institute NSW (Australia) |
01/01/2011 |
|
Research Fellow
Cancer Institute NSW (Australia) |
01/01/2008 - 01/12/2010 |
|
Resaerch Fellow
Cancer Institute NSW (Australia) |
01/01/2006 - 01/12/2008 |
|
Senior Brawn Research Fellow
University of Newcastle (Australia) |
01/01/2011 |
Awards
Research Award.
| 2004 |
Young Resaerch of the Year
Hunter Medical Research Institute (Australia) To recognize my achievement in cancer research. |
|---|
Invitations
|
Induction of apoptosis: the key for successful treatment of melanoma by mutant BRAF inhibitors?
The BIT Science’ 4rd PEPCON Conference, China (Invited Presenter) |
2012 |
|
Adaptation to ER stress as a driver of increased expression of Mcl-1 with melanoma progression.
7th Annual International Melanoma Congress, Australia (Invited Presenter) |
2010 |
|
Up-regulation of Mcl-1 by the Unfolded Protein Response is Critical for Survival of Melanoma Cells upon ER stress.
7th World Congress on Melanoma, Austria (Invited Presenter) |
2009 |
|
Up-regulation of Mcl-1 by the Unfolded Protein Response is Critical for Survival of Melanoma Cells upon ER stress.
XXth IPCC & Vth IMRC, Japan (Invited Presenter) |
2008 |
Administrative
Administrative expertise
Dr Zhang acts as a team leader of a research group at the oncology and Immunology Unit that is specialized in research on melanoma biology
Teaching
Teaching expertise
Tumor biology; Tumor Immunology; Apoptosis; Signaling transduction.