Zhengping Zhuang
Neuro-Oncology Branch
The Center for Cancer Research
United States of America
Biography
Dr. Zhuang received his M.D. degree from Shanghai Second Medical University in China and his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Wayne State University in Michigan. His postgraduate training included residency training in General Surgery in Shanghai Ruijin Hospital; a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School in Boston, a transitional residency year at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, followed by a full residency in Anatomic Pathology at the NCI. Since 1996, Dr. Zhuang has been a member of the NIH community, first as staff pathologist at NCI, then the Head of the Molecular Pathogenesis Unit of the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke (NINDS), a role he has held since 1999. He recently joined the Neuro-Oncology Branch, a collaborative effort of the NCI and the NINDS as a Senior Investigator. Dr. Zhuang has made several specific and unique contributions to the fields of experimental pathology, cancer genetics, and cancer biology. In his early career, Dr. Zhuang pioneered unique molecular genetic approaches to study human cancer biology; combining his expertise in anatomic pathology with experimental biology. Dr. Zhuang developed a tissue microdissection technique and co-invented laser-capture microscopy (LCM) to facilitate procurement of highly purified specific cell types from histological tissue samples. During his activity at the NCI and NINDS, Dr. Zhuang has led and participated in several multidisciplinary efforts to gain insight into cancer genetics and cancer biology. He co-discovered the menin gene for Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 1; c-MET for Papillary Renal Carcinoma and its role in trisomy 7; and HIF2A for a novel tumor-associated syndrome of Multiple Paraganglioma, Somatostatinoma, and Polycythemia, a disease that is now referred to as the Pacak-Zhuang syndrome. Dr. Zhuang is also a co-inventor of novel drugs LB100 (PP2A inhibitor), LB201 (HDAC inhibitor) and a novel HIF2 alpha inhibitor. These agents are in active clinical and preclinical drug trials.
Research Interest
Cancer Biology, Cell Biology, Clinical Research, Genetics and Genomics, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
Publications
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Mutant glucocerebrosidase in Gaucher disease recruits Hsp27 to the Hsp90 chaperone complex for proteasomal degradation. Yang C, Wang H, Zhu D, Hong CS, Dmitriev P, Zhang C, Li Y, Ikejiri B, Brady RO, and Zhuang Z. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 112(4): 1137-42, 2015.
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New syndrome of paraganglioma and somatostainoma associated with polycythemia. Pacak K, Jochmanova I, Prodanov T, Yang C, Merino MJ, Fojo T, Prchal JF, Tishler AS, Lechan RM, and Zhuang Z. J Clin Oncol. 31(13): 1690-8, 2013.
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β-catenin signaling initiates the activation of astrocytes and its dysregulation contributes to the pathogenesis of astrocytomas. Yang C, Iyer RR, Yu AC, Yong RL, Park DM, Weil RJ, Ikejiri B, Brady RO, Lonser RR, and Zhuang Z. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 109(18): 6963-8, 2012.
