Chi Zhang wins Graduate Student Excellence in Research Award
Recent IOB graduate Chi Zhang has been awarded a Graduate Student Excellence-in-Research Award.
Initiated in 1999 to recognize the quality and significance of graduate student scholarship, these awards may be given in five areas: Fine Arts, Humanities and Letters, Life Sciences, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, and Applied Studies.
Chi Zhang, a recent doctoral graduate in bioinformatics, studies the mechanisms of cancer initiation, progression, metastasis and post-metastasis development using large-scale data analyses of cancer tissue samples and computer modeling. Much of his research focuses on scientific Warburg’s theory, which states that the primary cause of cancer is the replacement of oxygen in normal body cells by a fermentation of sugar. Zhang uses new genomic data to explore this theory more completely by examining the fundamental metabolic changes that appear to be the primary cause of cancer in multiple tissues. His work could lead to new approaches to cancer prevention and treatment. Zhang is currently working as a postdoctoral associate in the department of biochemistry and molecular biology.