Research Summary
Li Zhang is a Full Professor in the Department of Medicine and the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She is an associate member of UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (HDFCCC). Dr. Zhang has over fifteen years of experience applying statistical methods in medical research, including epidemiology studies, basic science studies, clinical trials design, and high-throughput sequencing data. Her statistical methodological research interests are cancer epidemiology and immunoinformatics, and she has more than 100 publications. Currently, Dr. Zhang serves on Global Action Plan 6 Project Steering Committee and UCSF site PI for the Movember Foundation and American Society of Clinical Oncology Career Development Award as a statistical reviewer.
Research Funding
- August 1, 2021 - July 31, 2028 - Determinants of response to cancer immunotherapy , Co-Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R35CA253175
- April 1, 2022 - November 10, 2026 - Development of advanced computational approaches for characterizing repertoire sequencing to unravel the mechanism of immune response to cancer immunotherapy , PI . Sponsor: NIH/NLM, Sponsor Award ID: R01 LM013763
- March 1, 2021 - February 28, 2026 - Precision targeting of T cell cytotoxicity with PET , Co-Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA258297
- December 1, 2020 - November 30, 2025 - Measuring Metabolic Activity in Prostate Cancer Bone Metastases Using Hyperpolarized 13C Pyruvate MRI for Improved Targeted Therapy Monitoring , Co-Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA256740
Education
Southeast University, China, B. Eng, 1999, Civil Engineering
University of Florida, M.Stat, 2003, Statistics
University of Florida, Ph.D., 2006, Statistics
Honors & Awards
- 2022
CTSI Impact Award - 2021
Prostate Cancer Pilot Project Award, UCSF - 2021
The Excellence Consultant Award, UCSF CTSI - 2021
Outstanding Service Award, American Statistical Association - 2019
Research Allocation Program Award, UCSF - 2017
Consultation Services Training Grant, UCSF CTSI - 2017
The Movember Foundation-Challenge Award, Prostate Cancer Foundation - 2016
UCSF Global Oncology Pilot Project Award - 2016
UCSF Research Allocation Program Award - 2014
The Safeway Foundation-PCF Challenge Award - The NEXT Project: Network Enriched Crossover Trial, Prostate Cancer Foundation - 2012
Innovator Award - Genomic Biomarkers of Lung Cancer Risk, Cleveland Clinic - 2005
Keene Dissertation Fellowship Award, University of Florida
Selected Publications
- Zhang L, Cham J, Cooley J, He T, Hagihara K, Yang H, Fan F, Cheung A, Thompson D, Kerns BJ, Fong L. Cross-platform comparison of immune-related gene expression to assess intratumor immune responses following cancer immunotherapy. J Immunol Methods. 2021 Jul;494:113041.
View on PubMed - Naidus E, Bouquet J, Oh DY, Looney TJ, Yang H, Fong L, Standifer NE, Zhang L. Early changes in the circulating T cells are associated with clinical outcomes after PD-L1 blockade by durvalumab in advanced NSCLC patients. Cancer Immunol Immunother. 2021 Jul;70(7):2095-2102.
View on PubMed - Zhang L, Kandadi H, Yang H, Cham J, He T, Oh DY, Sheikh NA, Fong L. Long-term Sculpting of the B-cell Repertoire following Cancer Immunotherapy in Patients Treated with Sipuleucel-T. Cancer Immunol Res. 2020 Dec;8(12):1496-1507.
View on PubMed - Kwon DH, Zhang L, Quigley DA, Foye A, Chen WS, Wong CK, Feng FY, Bailey A, Huang J, Stuart JM, Friedl V, Weinstein AS, Beer TM, Alumkal JJ, Rettig M, Gleave M, Lara PN, Thomas. Down-regulation of ADRB2 expression is associated with small cell neuroendocrine prostate cancer and adverse clinical outcomes in castration-resistant prostate cancer. Urol Oncol. 2020 Jul 02.
View on PubMed - Cham J, Zhang L, Kwek S, Paciorek A, He T, Fong G, Oh DY, Fong L. Combination immunotherapy induces distinct T-cell repertoire responses when administered to patients with different malignancies. J Immunother Cancer. 2020 May; 8(1).
View on PubMed - Looney TJ, Topacio-Hall D, Lowman G, Conroy J, Morrison C, Oh D, Fong L, Zhang L. TCR Convergence in Individuals Treated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibition for Cancer. Front Immunol. 2019; 10:2985.
View on PubMed - Greaney SK, Algazi AP, Tsai KK, Takamura KT, Chen L, Twitty CG, Zhang L, Paciorek A, Pierce RH, Le MH, Daud AI, Fong L. Intratumoral Plasmid IL12 Electroporation Therapy in Patients with Advanced Melanoma Induces Systemic and Intratumoral T-cell Responses. Cancer Immunol Res. 2020 02; 8(2):246-254.
View on PubMed - Reimers MA, Yip SM, Zhang L, Cieslik M, Dhawan M, Montgomery B, Wyatt AW, Chi KN, Small EJ, Chinnaiyan AM, Alva AS, Feng FY, Chou J. Clinical Outcomes in Cyclin-dependent Kinase 12 Mutant Advanced Prostate Cancer. Eur Urol. 2020 Mar; 77(3):333-341.
View on PubMed - Lobach I, Kim I, Alekseyenko A, Lobach S, Zhang L. A Simple Approximation to Bias in Gene-Environment Interaction Estimates When a Case Might Not Be the Case. Front Genet. 2019; 10:886.
View on PubMed - Greenland NY, Zhang L, Cowan JE, Carroll PR, Stohr BA, Simko JP. Correlation of a Commercial Genomic Risk Classifier with Histological Patterns in Prostate Cancer. J Urol. 2019 07; 202(1):90-95.
View on PubMed - Chen WS, Aggarwal R, Zhang L, Zhao SG, Thomas GV, Beer TM, Quigley DA, Foye A, Playdle D, Huang J, Lloyd P, Lu E, Sun D, Guan X, Rettig M, Gleave M, Evans CP, Youngren J, True L, Lara P, Kothari V, Xia Z, Chi KN, Reiter RE, Maher CA, Feng FY, Small EJ, Alumkal JJ. Genomic Drivers of Poor Prognosis and Enzalutamide Resistance in Metastatic Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer. Eur Urol. 2019 11; 76(5):562-571.
View on PubMed - Aggarwal RR, Quigley DA, Huang J, Zhang L, Beer TM, Rettig MB, Reiter RE, Gleave ME, Thomas GV, Foye A, Playdle D, Lloyd P, Chi KN, Evans CP, Lara PN, Feng FY, Alumkal JJ, Small EJ. Whole-Genome and Transcriptional Analysis of Treatment-Emergent Small-Cell Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer Demonstrates Intraclass Heterogeneity. Mol Cancer Res. 2019 06; 17(6):1235-1240.
View on PubMed - Lobach I, Kim I, Alekseyenko A, Lobach S, Zhang L. A simple approximation to bias in the genetic effect estimates when multiple disease states share a clinical diagnosis. Genet Epidemiol. 2019 07; 43(5):522-531.
View on PubMed - Lobach I, Sampson J, Lobach S, Alekseyenko A, Piryatinska A, He T, Zhang L. A simple approximation to the bias of gene-environment interactions in case-control studies with silent disease. Genet Epidemiol. 2019 04; 43(3):292-299.
View on PubMed - Quigley DA, Dang HX, Zhao SG, Lloyd P, Aggarwal R, Alumkal JJ, Foye A, Kothari V, Perry MD, Bailey AM, Playdle D, Barnard TJ, Zhang L, Zhang J, Youngren JF, Cieslik MP, Parolia A, Beer TM, Thomas G, Chi KN, Gleave M, Lack NA, Zoubeidi A, Reiter RE, Rettig MB, Witte O, Ryan CJ, Fong L, Kim W, Friedlander T, Chou J, Li H, Das R, Li H, Moussavi-Baygi R, Goodarzi H, Gilbert LA, Lara PN, Evans CP, Goldstein TC, Stuart JM, Tomlins SA, Spratt DE, Cheetham RK, Cheng DT, Farh K, Gehring JS, Hakenberg J, Liao A, Febbo PG, Shon J, Sickler B, Batzoglou S, Knudsen KE, He HH, Huang J, Wyatt AW, Dehm SM, Ashworth A, Chinnaiyan AM, Maher CA, Small EJ, Feng FY. Genomic Hallmarks and Structural Variation in Metastatic Prostate Cancer. Cell. 2018 10 18; 175(3):889.
View on PubMed - Hagihara K, Chan S, Zhang L, Oh DY, Wei XX, Simko J, Fong L. Neoadjuvant sipuleucel-T induces both Th1 activation and immune regulation in localized prostate cancer. Oncoimmunology. 2019; 8(1):e1486953.
View on PubMed - Lobach I, Sampson J, Alekseyenko A, Lobach S, Zhang L. Case-control studies of gene-environment interactions. When a case might not be the case. PLoS One. 2018; 13(8):e0201140.
View on PubMed - Lobach I, Sampson J, Lobach S, Zhang L. Gene-environment interactions in case-control studies with silent disease. Genet Epidemiol. 2018 09; 42(6):551-558.
View on PubMed - Wei XX, Perry J, Chang E, Zhang L, Hiatt RA, Ryan CJ, Small EJ, Fong L. Clinical Variables Associated With Overall Survival in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Patients Treated With Sipuleucel-T Immunotherapy. Clin Genitourin Cancer. 2018 06; 16(3):184-190.e2.
View on PubMed - Zhang L, Cham J, Paciorek A, Trager J, Sheikh N, Fong L. 3D: diversity, dynamics, differential testing - a proposed pipeline for analysis of next-generation sequencing T cell repertoire data. BMC Bioinformatics. 2017 Feb 27; 18(1):129.
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