Weizhou Zhang, Ph.D., who is leading novel research on cancer immunotherapeutics and basic mechanisms of cancer immunology, has been named co-leader of the UF Health Cancer Institute’s Immuno-Oncology and Microenvironment (IOM) research program.
The leadership change comes as the research program expands its focus to emphasize the impact of the tumor microenvironment. While microbiome science will continue to be a strong component, the change reflects the program’s broad range of research on the relationship between cancer and our immune system and how to harness the immune system for therapeutic benefit. Zhang will co-lead the program with Elias Sayour, M.D., Ph.D.
“Dr. Zhang is a perfect match for this role as his expertise in cancer immunology with a special emphasis on T-cell regulation in breast cancer and other solid tumors and recently AML complements expertise in IOM,” said Rolf Renne, Ph.D., associate director for basic sciences at the UF Health Cancer Institute. “He will form a great team with Dr. Elias Sayour, who has a strong focus on immuno-oncology of brain tumors. Both are working on the development of novel immunotherapeutics, which will further increase the translational impact of the UF Health Cancer Institute.”
The scientific mission of IOM is to improve cancer outcomes through innovative therapeutic research on microenvironment-immunotherapy interactions influencing immune cell function. With nearly 50 members across six different UF colleges, the program engages clinicians and laboratory scientists to partner on innovative investigator-initiated trials.
“I’m looking forward to taking this new leadership position to accelerate progress in basic and translational research related to cancer immunology and emerging novel immunotherapeutics,” said Zhang, a professor and vice chair of research in the UF Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine.
Zhang’s research focuses on understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate cancer initiation, progression, metastasis and anti-tumor immunity, with an emphasis on tumor–immune interactions, inflammation, immune checkpoint biology and the tumor microenvironment.
His laboratory integrates cancer biology, immunology and translational research to identify novel therapeutic targets and develop innovative immunotherapies, including strategies that modulate regulatory T cells, myeloid cells, inflammatory signaling and tumor-intrinsic pathways to improve cancer treatment. Zhang’s work has advanced our fundamental understanding of breast cancer, obesity-associated cancer and tumor-immune regulation, while providing a foundation for next-generation immunotherapeutic approaches.
“I’m really excited about the impressive mechanistic science around immune cell function and how to manipulate that for therapeutic benefit that Dr. Zhang brings to the IOM leadership team,” said Thomas George, M.D., FACP, FASCO, interim director of the UF Health Cancer Institute. “Coupled with an expanded programmatic focus on the tumor microenvironment, our continued development and translation of novel immunotherapies will accelerate.”
Zhang has been working in the cancer field for more than 25 years, starting from graduate school at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where he studied signaling pathways involved in cancer progression. He continued breast cancer research during his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California San Diego, where he studied how inflammation impacts cancer. He continues that interest while serving as a co-leader of the UF Health Cancer Institute’s Breast Cancer Working Group.
Zhang ran an independent laboratory at the University of Iowa, which he brought to UF in 2018. His lab focuses on how the immune system controls or promotes cancer and how epithelial cell intrinsic signaling pathways are altered during cancer development. Recent new directions include the role of DNA repair pathway, epigenetic regulations and transcriptional factors in cancer therapy.
Collaborating with medicinal chemists, he is also developing novel small compounds like PROTACs to target cellular proteins with immunomodulatory functions. Recently, his lab collaborated with Jatinder Lamba, Ph.D., in the UF College of Pharmacy to develop a new duo-targeting drug in acute myeloid leukemia.
Zhang steps into the position with IOM as Christian Jobin, Ph.D., departs UF for another institution. Ramon Sun, Ph.D., will fill the leadership role in the Mechanisms of Oncogenesis (MOO) research program that Zhang has held for the past year.
