Li Zhang

Biography

Dr. Zhang is a Professor in the Departments of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology and Immunology at the University of Toronto. She holds a Maria H. Bacardi Chair in Transplantation and is also the Research Director of the University of Toronto Transplantation Institute. Professor Zhang’s research, supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute and NIH, has been focused on understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in immune tolerance and its applications in various diseases, including graft rejection, graft versus host disease, autoimmune diseases and cancer. Dr. Zhang’s laboratory, located at the Toronto General Research Institute, University Health Network where she is a Senior Scientist, was the first to discover and characterize a subset of T lymphocytes termed double negative (DN) T cells.  Her group and other laboratories have demonstrated that DN T cells can prevent transplant rejection, inhibit graft versus host disease and autoimmune disease, and eliminating cancer cells. Dr. Zhang’s group is currently dissecting further the molecular mechanisms involved in DN T cell action and building a critical bridge between new concepts originating from her laboratory and novel immunotherapy for cancer patients as well.               Dr. Zhang is a Professor in the Departments of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology and Immunology at the University of Toronto. She holds a Maria H. Bacardi Chair in Transplantation and is also the Research Director of the University of Toronto Transplantation Institute. Professor Zhang’s research, supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute and NIH, has been focused on understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in immune tolerance and its applications in various diseases, including graft rejection, graft versus host disease, autoimmune diseases and cancer. Dr. Zhang’s laboratory, located at the Toronto General Research Institute, University Health Network where she is a Senior Scientist, was the first to discover and characterize a subset of T lymphocytes termed double negative (DN) T cells.  Her group and other laboratories have demonstrated that DN T cells can prevent transplant rejection, inhibit graft versus host disease and autoimmune disease, and eliminating cancer cells. Dr. Zhang’s group is currently dissecting further the molecular mechanisms involved in DN T cell action and building a critical bridge between new concepts originating from her laboratory and novel immunotherapy for cancer patients as well.              

Research Interest

Our research is focused on developing novel immunotherapies for treating cancers, graft-vs.-host disease and transplant rejection, and understands the underlying molecular mechanisms.