Education:

1975-1979 M.D., Suzhou Medical College, China
1982-1985 M.S., Suzhou Medical College, China
1988-1991 Ph.D., Hematology, Suzhou Medical College, China
1994-1997 Postdoctoral Fellow, Wisconcin Blood Research Institute, USA

Professional Experience:

1998-2009 Senior Scientist, Scripps Research Institute, USA
2009-Present Professor/Principal Investigator, Cyrus Tang Hematology Center, Soochow University, China

Research:

The mechanisms of tumor angiogenesis and anti-tumor angiogenic drug discovery
Tumor angiogenesis has been considered to be an extension of the normal vasculature in a tumor tissue for a long time. However，recent studies have revealed that some tumor blood vessels can be consisted of tumor cells themselves, which do not depend on vascular endothelial cells. This process is called tumor vasculogenesis. Whereas the mechanisms underlying tumor vasculogenesis remain to be elucidated, and specific anti-vasculogenic drugs need to be explored. We will use pre-cancer stem cell, tumor cell, and tumor endothelial cell models which were created in our laboratory to study the mechanisms of tumor vasculogenesis, to identify the specific markers of tumor blood vessels, to make novel anti-tumor vasculogenic drug discovery, and to provide new diagnostic methods and effective therapeutics for the treatment of cancer patients.

Investigators:

Zhifei Cao, Senior Research Associate
Yanyan Pan, Senior Research Associate
Gaochuan Zhang, Ph.D. Student, Lecturer
Binxue Shang, Ph.D. Student
Pengda Guo, Ph.D. Student
Ping Yang, Master Student
Di Yu, Master Student
Shilong Fu, Master Student
Aidi Gao, Master Student
Mei Meng, Master Student

Representative papers:

1. Zhang G*, Yang P*, Guo P*, Miele L, Sarkar H, Wang Z, Zhou Q. Unraveling the mystery of cancer metabolism in the genesis of tumor-initiating cells and development of cancer. BBA-Rev Cancer 2013;1836:49-59. *Co-first authors
2. Sajish M, Zhou Q*, Kishi S, Valdez D, Kapoor M, Guo M, Kim S, Xiang-Lei Yang X, and Schimmel P. Nuclear TrpRS Links IFN-γ Signaling to p53 Activation. Nature: Chem Biol 2012; 8:547-54. (影响因子:17.3).
3. Zhang G, Shang B, Yang P, Cao Z, Pan Y, Zhou Q*. Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell consensus genes: Implication for the risk of cancer in iPS cell therapy. Stem Cell Devel 2012, 6(3):955-964. (*Corresponding author)
4. Shang B, Cao Z, Zhou Q*. Normalization of tumor blood vessels for anti-cancer therapy. Front Med 2012, 6(1) 67-78. (*Corresponding author)
5. Liu R, Cao Z, Tu J, Pan Y, Shang B, Zhang, G, Zhou Q*. Inhibition of melanoma C8161 cells- mediated tumor neovascularization by lycorine hydrochloride through suppression of VE-cadherin expression. Pigm Cell Mel Res 2012;25:630-8. (*Corresponding author)
6. Quansheng Zhou, Mili Kapoor, Min Guo, Rajesh Belani1,, Xiaoling Xu, William B.Kiosses, Melanie Hanan, Chulho Park, Eva Armour, Minh-Ha Do, Leslie A. Nangle, Paul Schimmel and Xiang-Lei Yang. Orthogonal use of a human tRNA synthetase active site to achieve multifunctionality. Nature: Struct Mol Biol 2010, 17: 57-61.
7. Jian-Xin Gao and Quansheng Zhou. 2009. Epigenetic progenitors in tumor initiation and development. Drug Discovery Today 2009, 232; 1-8.
8. Zhou Q*, Kiosses WB, Liu J, Schimmel P. Tumor endothelial cell tube formation model for determining anti-angiogenic activity of a tRNA synthetase cytokine. Methods 2008, 44(2):190-195. (*Corresponding author).
9. Zhou Q, Ben-Efraim I, Bigcas JL, Junqueira D, Wiedmer T, Sims PJ. Phospholipid scramblase 1 binds to the promoter region of the inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate receptor type 1 gene to enhance its expression. J Biol Chem 2005, 280:35062-8.
10. Wiedmer T, Zhao J, Li L, Zhou Q*, Hevener A, Olefsky JM, Curtiss LK, Sims PJ. 2004. Adiposity, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance in mice with targeted deletion of phospholipid scramblase 3 (PLSCR3). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101(36):13296-301. (*equal contribution to the first author)
11. Quansheng Zhou, Ji Zhao, Therese Wildmer, Perter J. Sims. Normal hemostasis but defective hematopoietic response to growth factors in mice deficient in phospholipid scramblase 1. Blood 2002, 99:4030-4038.
12. Quansheng Zhou, Ji Zhao, Therese Wiedmer, Robert H. Silverman, Perter J. Sims. Tanscriptional control of human plasma membrane phospholipis scramblase 1 gene is mediated by interferon. Blood 1999,95:2593-2599.
13. Quansheng Zhou, Peter J. Sims, Therese Wiedmer. Identity of a conserved motif in phospholipid scramblase for Ca2+-accelerated transbilayer movement of membrane phospholipids. Biochemistry 1998, 37:2356-2360.
14. Quansheng Zhou, Peter J. Sims, Therese Wiedmer. Expression of proteins controlling transbilayer movement of plasma membrane phospholipids in the B-lymphocytes from a patient with Scott syndrome. Blood 1998, 92:1707-1712.
15. Quansheng Zhou, Ji Zhao, James G. Stout, Robert A Luhm, Therese Wiedmer, and Peter J. Sims. Molecular cloning of human plasma membrane phospholipid scramblase: a protein mediating transbilayer movement of plasma membrane phospholipids. J Biol Chem 1997, 272:18240-18244.

Professional Memberships:

1. Member, American Association for Hematology
2. Member, American Association for Cancer Research
3. Member, American Diabetes Association
4. Member, New York Academy of Sciences
5. Member, International Who’s Who Professionals