Associate Professor
PhD (Karolinska Institutet)
Research Fellow (Harvard Medical School)
Honorary Advisor (Molecular Diagnosis), Dept. Pathology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital
Member (Clinical Bioinformatics), Task Force on NGS, HKAS, Innovation and Technology Commission, Hong Kong Government
+852 3442-2199
+852 3442-0549
zongli.zheng@cityu.edu.hk
CityU Scholars
Gene rearrangement • Liquid biopsy • Precision genome editing
Dr Zheng received his PhD degree in medical epidemiology from Karolinska Institutet in 2011 and completed a postdoctoral training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School with support from the Swedish Research Council International Postdoc Fellowship. In July 2015, he joined the Department of Biomedical Sciences at City University of Hong Kong.
Research InterestsOur contribution to precision medicine includes the invention of the AMP technology that has accelerated gene fusion discovery. Following initial clinical implementations in top U.S. hospitals (MSK Solid Fusion, MGH NGS Fusion, etc.), the AMP technology has been adopted globally for robust gene fusion detection to guide targeted therapies for cancer patients. We have also developed the GUIDE-seq method that has become a widely used reference for genome-wide unbiased profiling of CRISPR edits. Currently, we focus on:
Liquid biopsy – to identify molecular determinants and circulating signatures for cancer monitoring, diagnosis and, ultimately, prevention.
Precision genome editing – to improve CRISPR genome editing precision for treating diseases rooted in altered DNA bases or chromosomal structures.
PhD StudentsChenyu Lu (M.Sc., Zhejiang University, 2018)
Yufan Bao (B.Sc., Hong Kong PolyU, 2020)
Limei Ai (M.Sc., Peking Union Medical College, 2021)
Selected Publications(#contributed equally, advisee, *correspondence; Full list: Google Scholar)
Song Z#, Lian S#, Mak S#, Chow ZY#, Xu C, Wang W, Keung HY, Lu C, Kebede TF, Gao Y, Cheuk W, Cho CS, Yang M, Zheng Z. Deep RNA sequencing revealed fusion junctional heterogeneity may predict crizotinib treatment efficacy in ALK-rearranged non-small cell lung cancer. Journal of Thoracic Oncology (Accepted)
Song Z, Lu C, Xu C, Zheng Z. Noncanonical gene fusions detected at the DNA level necessitate orthogonal diagnosis methods before targeted therapy. Journal of Thoracic Oncology (2021) 16:344-348
Tan Y#, Chu HY#, Bao S, Hoang DA, Kebede TF, Xiong W, Ji M, Shi J*, Zheng Z*. Rationally engineered Staphylococcus aureus Cas9 nucleases with high genome-wide specificity. PNAS (2019) 116: 20969-20976.
Choi GCG, Zhou P, Yuen CTL, Chan BKC, Xu F, Bao S, Chu HY, Thean D, Tan K, Wong KH, Zheng Z, Wong ASL. Combinatorial mutagenesis en masse optimizes the genome editing activities of SpCas9. Nature Methods (2019) 16:722-730.
Kleinstiver BP, Pattanayak V, Prew MS, Tsai SQ, Nguyen NT, Zheng Z, Joung JK. High-fidelity CRISPR–Cas9 nucleases with no detectable genome-wide off-target effects. Nature (2016) 529:490–495.
Before CityUTsai SQ#, Zheng Z#, Nguyen NT, Liebers M, Topkar VV, Thapar V, Wyvekens N, Khayter C, Iafrate AJ, Le LP, Aryee MJ, Joung JK. GUIDE-seq enables genome-wide profiling of off-target cleavage by CRISPR-Cas nucleases. Nature Biotechnology (2015) 33:187–198.
Shaw A, Ou S, Bang Y, Camidge R, Solomon B, Salgia R, Riely G, Varella-Garcia M, Shapiro G, Costa D, Doebele R, Le LP, Zheng Z, Tan W, Stephenson P, Shreeve S, Tye L, Christensen J, Wilner K, Clark J, Iafrate AJ. Crizotinib in ROS1-Rearranged Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. The New England Journal of Medicine (2014) 371:1963-1971.
Zheng Z, Liebers M, Zhelyazkova B, Cao Y, Panditi D, Lynch KD, Chen J, Robinson HE, Shim HS, Chmielecki J, Pao W, Engelman JA, Iafrate AJ, Le LP. Anchored multiplex PCR for targeted next-generation sequencing. Nature Medicine (2014), 20:1479-84.
Position AvailableWe are looking for motivated individuals interested in our research directions as research assistants, PhD students and postdocs.
4 October 2021
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