Dr  Xiaohong Zhao

Dr Xiaohong Zhao

Postdoctoral Researcher

School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy

Career Summary

Biography

Dr Xiaohong Zhao is a dedicated Early Career Researcher with a keen focus on unraveling the intricate dynamics of nutrient supply within cancer cells. Her expertise lies in the field of Cancer Cell Biology and Cancer Metabolism, where she has honed a remarkable skill set.

In 2023, Dr Zhao earned her Ph.D. in Medical Biochemistry from the University of Newcastle. Throughout her doctoral journey, her research was focused on targeting oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) for cancer treatment. Dr Xiaohong Zhao’s study broadens the potential treatment paradigms of targeting OXPHOS beyond glycolysis-deficient cancers, by revealing that colorectal cancer (CRC) cells, which commonly exhibit the glycolytic phenotype, are susceptible to OXPHOS inhibition. This pivotal finding opens new avenues for innovative approaches in cancer therapeutics.


Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Biochemistry, University of Newcastle
  • Bachelor of Medicine, Xinxiang Medical University, China
  • Master of Medicine, Sichuan University - China

Keywords

  • Cancer biology
  • Cancer metabolism
  • Colorectal cancer

Languages

  • English (Fluent)
  • Mandarin (Mother)

Fields of Research

Code Description Percentage
321104 Cancer therapy (excl. chemotherapy and radiation therapy) 30
321101 Cancer cell biology 50
320501 Medical biochemistry - amino acids and metabolites 20

Professional Experience

UON Appointment

Title Organisation / Department
Postdoctoral Researcher University of Newcastle
School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy
Australia

Awards

Award

Year Award
2023 Best publication award-2nd place
EMCR Committee of Cancer Detection and Therapy Program
2022 Best oral presentation awards-2nd place
Australian Association of Chinese Biomedical Scientists (AACBS)
2022 People’s Choice-Student Presentation award
Cancer and Precision Medicine Symposium
2020 Best oral presentation awards-3rd place
Australian Association for Chinese Biomedical Scientists

Prize

Year Award
2021 Three Minute Thesis-the 3rd place winner of University of Newcastle
Three Minute Thesis competition

Invitations

Speaker

Year Title / Rationale
2023 p53 underpins a dependence on oxidative phosphorylation in glycolysis-competent colorectal cancer.
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Publications

For publications that are currently unpublished or in-press, details are shown in italics.


Journal article (14 outputs)

Year Citation Altmetrics Link
2024 Zheng SM, Feng YC, Zhu Q, Li RQ, Yan QQ, Teng L, et al., 'MILIP Binding to tRNAs Promotes Protein Synthesis to Drive Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.', Cancer Res, OF1-OF15 (2024)
DOI 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-23-3046
Co-authors Mark Baker, Yuchen Feng, Xu Zhang, Lei Jin
2024 Xu L, Xiang W, Yang J, Gao J, Wang X, Meng L, et al., 'PHB2 promotes SHIP2 ubiquitination via the E3 ligase NEDD4 to regulate AKT signaling in gastric cancer', JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL & CLINICAL CANCER RESEARCH, 43 (2024) [C1]
DOI 10.1186/s13046-023-02937-1
Co-authors Xu Zhang, Lei Jin
2023 Li RQ, Zhao XH, Zhu Q, Liu T, Hondermarck H, Thorne RF, et al., 'Exploring neurotransmitters and their receptors for breast cancer prevention and treatment.', Theranostics, 13 1109-1129 (2023) [C1]
DOI 10.7150/thno.81403
Citations Scopus - 4
Co-authors Hubert Hondermarck, Xu Zhang
2023 La T, Chen S, Zhao XH, Zhou S, Xu R, Teng L, et al., 'LncRNA LIMp27 Regulates the DNA Damage Response through p27 in p53-Defective Cancer Cells.', Adv Sci (Weinh), 10 e2204599 (2023) [C1]
DOI 10.1002/advs.202204599
Citations Scopus - 2
Co-authors Muhammad Jamaluddin, Yuanyuan Zhang, Lei Jin, Yuchen Feng, Xu Zhang
2022 Wang PL, Teng L, Feng YC, Yue YM, Han MM, Yan Q, et al., 'The N-Myc-responsive lncRNA MILIP promotes DNA double-strand break repair through non-homologous end joining', PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 119 (2022) [C1]
DOI 10.1073/pnas.2208904119
Citations Scopus - 3Web of Science - 1
Co-authors Yuchen Feng, Xu Zhang, Yuanyuan Zhang, Lei Jin
2021 Teng L, Feng YC, Guo ST, Wang PL, Qi TF, Yue YM, et al., 'The pan-cancer lncRNA PLANE regulates an alternative splicing program to promote cancer pathogenesis', NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, 12 (2021) [C1]
DOI 10.1038/s41467-021-24099-4
Citations Scopus - 29Web of Science - 18
Co-authors Xu Zhang, Yuchen Feng, Lei Jin, Yuanyuan Zhang
2021 La T, Chen S, Guo T, Zhao XH, Teng L, Li D, et al., 'Visualization of endogenous p27 and Ki67 reveals the importance of a c-Myc-driven metabolic switch in promoting survival of quiescent cancer cells', THERANOSTICS, 11 9605-9622 (2021) [C1]
DOI 10.7150/thno.63763
Citations Scopus - 12Web of Science - 9
Co-authors Yuanyuan Zhang, Yuchen Feng, Alexandra Brown, Xu Zhang, Lei Jin
2021 Feng YC, Zhao XH, Teng L, Thorne RF, Jin L, Zhang XD, 'The pan-cancer lncRNA MILIP links c-Myc to p53 repression', MOLECULAR & CELLULAR ONCOLOGY, 8 (2021)
DOI 10.1080/23723556.2020.1842714
Citations Scopus - 2
Co-authors Lei Jin, Xu Zhang, Yuchen Feng
2018 Zhang S, Zhu Q, Chen X, Zhao Y, Zhao X, Yang Y, et al., 'Forensic applicability of multi-allelic InDels with mononucleotide homopolymer structures', ELECTROPHORESIS, 39 2136-2143 (2018)
DOI 10.1002/elps.201700468
Citations Scopus - 15Web of Science - 12
2018 Zhao Y, Chen X, Yang Y, Zhao X, Zhang S, Gao Z, et al., 'Potential forensic biogeographic application of diatom colony consistency analysis employing pyrosequencing profiles of the 18S rDNA V7 region', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LEGAL MEDICINE, 132 1611-1620 (2018)
DOI 10.1007/s00414-018-1849-x
Citations Scopus - 14Web of Science - 7
2018 Zhao Y, Mao Z, Pang H, Zhao X, Zhang S, Gao Z, et al., 'Association of programmed cell death 1 (PDCD1 ) gene polymorphisms with colorectal cancer among Han Chinese population', Chinese Journal of Medical Genetics, 35 219-223 (2018)

Objective To assess the association of programmed cell death 1 (PDCD1) gene polymorphisms with the susceptibility and/or progression of colorectal cancer. Methods A hospital-based... [more]

Objective To assess the association of programmed cell death 1 (PDCD1) gene polymorphisms with the susceptibility and/or progression of colorectal cancer. Methods A hospital-based case-control study was carried out, which recruited 426 colorectal cancer patients and 500 healthy individuals. Five single nucleotide polymorphisms, namely rs36084323, rsll568821, rs2227981, rs2227982 and rsl0204525, were selected for the study and genotyped with a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism(PCR-RFLP) assay. Results The G allele of rs36084323 under a dominant model was associated with increased risk of advanced TNM staging of colorectal cancer progression (OR = 1.59, 95% CI = 1.02-2.48). Haplotypes G-G-C-T-A and A-G-C-C-G of the rs36084323, rsll568821, rs2227981, rs2227982, and rsl0204525 were negatively associated with the occurrence of colorectal cancer. Conclusion The G allele of rs36084323 is associated with increased risk of advanced TNM staging of colorectal cancer. Conversely, the incidence of colorectal cancer is negatively associated with the haplotypes G-G-C-T-A and A-G-C-C-G of rs36084323, rsll568821, rs2227981, rs2227982, and rs10204525.

DOI 10.3760/cma.j.issn.1003-9406.2018.02.016
Citations Scopus - 5
2018 Gao Z, Chen X, Zhao Y, Zhao X, Zhang S, Yang Y, et al., 'Forensic genetic informativeness of an SNP panel consisting of 19 multi-allelic SNPs', FORENSIC SCIENCE INTERNATIONAL-GENETICS, 34 49-56 (2018)
DOI 10.1016/j.fsigen.2018.01.006
Citations Scopus - 20Web of Science - 18
2018 Zhao X, Chen X, Zhao Y, Zhang S, Gao Z, Yang Y, et al., 'Construction and forensic genetic characterization of 11 autosomal haplotypes consisting of 22 tri-allelic indels', FORENSIC SCIENCE INTERNATIONAL-GENETICS, 34 71-80 (2018)
DOI 10.1016/j.fsigen.2018.02.001
Citations Scopus - 6Web of Science - 5
2017 Zhao Y, Zhao X, Zhang S, Gao Z, Yang Y, Fang T, et al., 'A short unix shell script for vcftools commands iteration to obtain the genotypes of variations for forensic purpose', Forensic Science International: Genetics Supplement Series, 6 e49-e51 (2017)

The release of 1000 Genomes Project has provided a great variety of genome-wide variations spanning major populations worldwide, which offered a convenient path to the study of hu... [more]

The release of 1000 Genomes Project has provided a great variety of genome-wide variations spanning major populations worldwide, which offered a convenient path to the study of human genetic structure. VCFtools, a suite of functions dedicated to loci details summarizing, calculating, filtering, and genotype outputting can act as a powerful utility for genetic markers hunting and evaluating in the context of forensic purpose. While it is a labor-intensive and error-prone job involving repeating of multiple VCFtools commands step by step. Hence, we introduced a short UNIX-based bash shell script which contains an iteration structure to call VCFtools commands repeatedly for summarizing genotypes in different variation loci of different populations automatically. By setting up variations list and groups list, VCFtools commands with different arguments can be executed consecutively. Consequently, this process can be realized automatically with high efficiency and precision in the study of forensic genetics.

DOI 10.1016/j.fsigss.2017.09.007
Citations Scopus - 3
Show 11 more journal articles

Conference (5 outputs)

Year Citation Altmetrics Link
2021 Feng Y, La T, Zhang Y, Zhao X, Sokulsky L, Jin L, Zhang XD, 'The pan-cancer lncRNA PLANE promotes cancer pathogenesis through regulating an alternative splicing program', ASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY (2021)
Co-authors Yuanyuan Zhang, Xu Zhang
2020 Teng L, Feng YC, La T, Zhang YY, Zhao XH, Sokulsky L, et al., 'LncRNA PLANE regulates NCOR2 alternative splicing and promotes tumorigenesis', ASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY (2020)
Co-authors Yuchen Feng, Xu Zhang, Lei Jin, Yuanyuan Zhang
2020 La T, Zhao XH, Zhang YY, Feng YC, Yan XG, Sokulsky L, et al., 'Visualization of endogenous p27 and Ki67 reveals an IDH3-mediated metabolic switch toward oxidative phosphorylation in quiescent cells', ASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY (2020)
Co-authors Xu Zhang, Yuchen Feng, Yuanyuan Zhang
2020 Zhao XH, La T, Feng YC, Zhang YY, Yan XG, Sokulsky L, et al., 'Targeting oxidative phosphorylation for cancer treatment in colorectal cancer', ASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY (2020)
Co-authors Yuchen Feng, Yuanyuan Zhang, Xu Zhang
2020 Feng YC, Zhang YY, La T, Tabatabaee H, Zhao X, Yan XG, et al., 'c-Myc inactivation of p53 through the pan-cancer lncRNA MILIP drives cancer pathogenesis', ASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY (2020)
Co-authors Yuchen Feng, Xu Zhang, Yuanyuan Zhang
Show 2 more conferences
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Grants and Funding

Summary

Number of grants 2
Total funding $10,859

Click on a grant title below to expand the full details for that specific grant.


20232 grants / $10,859

Advancing the inhibition of oxidative phosphorylation for cancer treatment$7,739

Funding body: Cancer Detection & Therapy Research program

Funding body Cancer Detection & Therapy Research program
Scheme Small Pilot Project funding
Role Lead
Funding Start 2023
Funding Finish 2023
GNo
Type Of Funding Internal
Category INTE
UON N

Unveiling the functional role of citrate in the regulation of cancer cell proliferation: identifying protein binders as key factors$3,120

Funding body: Cancer Detection & Therapy Research program

Funding body Cancer Detection & Therapy Research program
Scheme EMCR shovel-ready project funding
Role Lead
Funding Start 2023
Funding Finish 2023
GNo
Type Of Funding Internal
Category INTE
UON N
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Dr Xiaohong Zhao

Position

Postdoctoral Researcher
School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy
College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing

Contact Details

Email xiaohong.zhao@newcastle.edu.au
Phone (04)66219528
Link UoN Blogs

Office

Room Life Sciences Building LS2-05
Building Life Sciences Building
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