Journal of Glycobiology
Open Access

Yiguo Zhang

Biography

Dr. Yiguo Zhang was appointed as a Professor (Part-time) at the University of Chongqing in 2010. He had earned the M.D. and the M.S. degrees with honors in China, and received the Ph.D in the University of Dundee. In 1995, he was appointed as a Lecturer in Henan Medical University (now merged in Zhengzhou University in China), having worked in molecular pathology and pathophysiology, cancer Biology, and Immunology. In 1999, he moved to The Hormel Institute, University of Minnesota, USA, having worked on UVA-induced cell signaling mechanisms for skin cancer and its inhibition by chemopreventive agents until entering the UK in 2003. As a Senior Scientist working within the University of Dundee, Dr. Zhang had focused on molecular and cellular control of the antioxidant transcription factor Nrf1, and to a lesser extent on Nrf2 and Nrf3. He identified structural domains in Nrf1 and Nrf3 in more detail, several of which are conserved in Nrf2. Also he discovered that Nrf1 (and Nrf3) as an integral membrane-bound glycoprotein is targeted into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), and sorted into the inner nuclear envelope membrane before activating antioxidant, detoxification and cytoprotective genes in response to oxidative stress and electrophile insults, but its activity is inhibited under ER stress. Dr. Zhang continues studies on antioxidant transcription factors and gene regulation in cell biochemistry in Division of Cancer Research, Medical Research Institute, University of Dundee. In 2007, he had elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) and published over 80 peer-reviewed research articles in English and Chinese.

Research Interest

Antioxidant transcription factors (e.g. Nrfs) and gene regulation in cell biochemistry and chemical biology, inducible knockout mice with NASH-based inflammation and progression of carcinogenesis in pathology and pathophysiology, UV-induced skin cancer signaling mechanisms in cell biology and pharmacology.