PROGRAM OVERVIEW

This PhD program in Biology is led by Professor Wei-Guo Zhu, Dean of the Shenzhen University School of Medicine. This cross-disciplinary program will ensure that students are familiar with scientific frontiers in the life sciences, and gain theoretical knowledge, professional experience in biological techniques used in the research laboratory setting and science-based critical thinking. Graduates of this program will have the ability to undertake independent research and work creatively in the field of biomedical science.

Main research fields:

1. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Students will study the structure and function of biological macromolecules such as nucleic acids and proteins; explore the biochemical basis and regulatory mechanisms of cell metabolism and homeostasis; and make scientific breakthroughs in the fields of genomic homeostasis, the molecular mechanisms of autophagy, and the pathogenic mechanisms and early diagnosis of major diseases. The mentors in this subprogram have made many breakthroughs in above-mentioned areas and thus are internationally competitive and renowned.

2. Cancer Biology

Students will focus on the biological basis of DNA replication, DNA damage repair, cancer chemoradiotherapy and immunotherapy, and the molecular mechanisms underlying the tumor microenvironment regulating pancreatic cancer metastasis; interpret the molecular mechanisms of maintaining genomic stability; explore new carcinogenic mechanisms and cancer therapeutic targets; and develop new anticancer lead compounds. The mentors in this subprogram are world renowned experts who have  published numerous original research papers in high-profile international journals such as Molecular Cell, Cell Research, and PNAS. In addition, they continuously host an international conference series on DNA repair.

CORE COURSES

Frontiers in Life Science, Academic and Professional English, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Advanced Cell Biology and Disease, Cancer Biology

CAREER PROSPECTS

Graduates will be able to follow careers in the biomedical sciences for both academic and industry.

Consultation

Email: molmed.hsc@szu.edu.cn                  

Email

stakeda@szu.edu.cn

Introduction

Prof. Takeda’s laboratory has investigated molecular mechanisms underlying anti-cancer drugs. The goal of our study is to develop the method of predicting the efficacy of various anti-cancer therapies on individual cancer patients and to offer the best therapy to each patient. The character of cancers arising in each patient significantly vary, for example, each oncogene’s activity and the efficacy of anti-cancer therapies are very different from one breast cancer patient to another. It is possible in the near future to determine the activity status of many genes in each patient’s malignant tumor. Anti-cancer drugs kill actively cycling normal cells causing very severe side effects. Thus, it is very important to anticipate the efficacy of anti-cancer drugs and the occurrence of side effects before actual treatments. Prof. Takeda’s laboratory has been disrupting genes in human cancer cells and examining the effect of each gene’s activity on the efficacy of anti-cancer drugs. This study will contribute to the prediction of different therapies’ efficacy by analyzing the activity status of genes in malignant tumors. This study also allows students to systematically learn methods of the genetic study, including gene disruption and many phenotypic analyses of gene-disrupted cells, sharing mutant cells of many genes with colleagues.

Email

Xingzhi.Xu@szu.edu.cn

Introduction

Distinguished Professor of Shenzhen University, Vice Dean of School of Medicine, Fellow of the International Association for Advanced Materials (IAAM), Deputy Editor-in-chief of Genome Instability & Disease, Vice President of Chinese Society for Cell Signal Transduction, CSCB (2015-2023). He has long been devoted to the research of DNA damage response, DNA replication and replication stress response, and maintenance of genome stability, and has developed anticancer lead compounds targeting genome homeostasis. He has published more than 100 SCI papers in international mainstream journals; edited "Principles of Cancer Biology" (Science Press, 2014). In 2011, he founded the Beijing Key Laboratory of DNA Damage Response and served as the director (2011-2017); in 2010, he founded and successively hosted the annual conference series of the international symposium on DNA Damage Response and Human Diseases (isDDRHD), which has become an internationally influential brand conference. Therefore, he becomes the core convener in the field of DNA repair in China.

Email

zhuweiguo@szu.edu.cn

Introduction

Prof. Zhu is a distinguished Professor of Shenzhen University,  and Dean of the School of Medicine, Shenzhen University, Ph.D Supervisor. He is the head of a number of "973" and "863" programs of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China,  head of the National Funding Commission’s innovation team of NSFC, head of the National Funding Commission’s key R&D program, Recipient of the National Outstanding Distinguished Youth Scientist，as well as the head of major and key projects of the National Foundation Commission of China.

Prof. Zhu focuses on the function of the histone modification enzymes and histone modification in the DNA damage response, autophagy and gene regulation, and its role in cancer development. He found a series of important new targets and methods for cancer treatment, which provides an important theoretical basis and experimental support for the accuracy of tumor therapy. He has published more than 160 research papers in leading international journals including Nature, Nature Cell Biology, Molecular Cell, and PNAS which earned more than 15,000 citations. His academic research mainly includes the following three aspects:

1. Identifying a series of histone modifications sites / histone modifying enzymes that participate in the DNA damage response of tumor cells, providing a theoretical basis for tumor radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

2. Revealing the biological functions of histone-modifying enzymes in the multi-level regulation of autophagy.

Consolidating the theoretical basis for the involvement of protein acetylation modification in tumor epigenetic therapy.

Email

lou@szu.edu.cn

Introduction

The Lou Group is devoted to uncover the potential crosstalk between metabolic dysregulation and genome instability, the two major resources which are considered to underlie cancer initiation. We apply multidisciplinary approaches such as genetics, biochemistry, cell biology, quantitative biology and synthetic biology to investigate DNA replication, co-replication events and whether/how sugar metabolism affects DNA replication/genome integrity. Our recent high-impact publications include Genes & Dev, EMBOJ, Cell Rep, EMBO Rep, CMLS, PLoS Genet.  

Email

yxcheng@szu.edu.cn

Introduction

My research interests are on the isolation, structural characterization, biological evaluation, structural optimization, and mechanistic exploration of natural products produced by insects, Ganoderma fungi, and plant resins. Moreover, our research deals with target identification of bioactive small molecules using chemical biology approaches. I have focused on compounds with potential reno-protective and neuro-protective effects inspired by traditional Chinese medicine philosophy or bionic concepts. In particular, I made great progress on nonpeptide small molecules from the insects and aromatic meroterpenoids from Ganoderma fungi, which represents pioneering work in this field. Given these achievements, I was supported by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars in China. My future research will utilize biotic and abiotic stressors, such as light induction, to create chemical and biological diversities of metabolites from the above materials. Under the support of projects such as National Major Scientific and Technological Special Project for “Significant New Drugs Development” during the Eleventh and Twelfth Five-year Plan Periods, NSFC-Joint Foundation of Yunnan Province, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Knowledge Innovation Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and West Light Foundation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, I have published 300 papers (e.g. JASN, Org Lett, J Nat Prod) and applied for 50 patents. I am currently mentoring two PhD candidates and 20 MSc candidates.

Email

delu@szu.edu.cn

Introduction

Prof. Lu is a distinguish professor and Chairman of Department of Pharmacology in Shenzhen University Health Science Center. He won the Shenzhen Peacock Talent Award (Class B). His main research interests are cancer stem cells-associated signaling transduction (especially Wnt signaling pathway), cancer stem cells and anti-cancer drug discovery. He received his doctorate in medical genetics from University of Toronto in 1998. So far, he has published more than 60 scientific papers, including many high-level articles published in some prestigious international journals. These papers have been cited more than 3400 times with an H-index of 27. He has served as a reviewer of internationally renowned journal such as PNAS, Blood, Cancer Research, and Clinical Cancer Research. He is currently the deputy chairman of the Medical Testing Committee of Shenzhen Analytical Testing Association.