Associate professor

Personal Statement

I received my doctorate from Tsinghua University in 2007 and then joined the University of California, San Diego as a postdoctoral researcher. In 2016, I was employed as an associate professor in Shenzhen University. Liyuanyouqing, is an honor of Shenzhen overseas high-level talents.

I has long been committed to the research of tumor stem cells and new immunotherapy drugs. Since tumor stem cells are the main reason of many malignant tumors to recur, the development of new immunotherapy drugs targeting the elimination of tumor stem cells is expected to cure cancer. So far, I has developed two new drugs for immunotherapy that have entered clinical trials. I published 20 high-level academic papers, including 2 papers as corresponding authors and 11 papers as the first author (including 3 PNAS), with a total impact factor of over 140 and an H-index of 14. Granted two invention patents in the United States, one of which has been commercialized; Three invention patents (including two as the first inventor) are applied. In 2015, I was funded by Shenzhen Science Innovation Department of "Development of Immunotherapy Approach to Target Cancer Stem Cell " in Shenzhen, and as the second core member of the team, I was responsible for the research and development of the small molecule drug subproject of ROR1 antibody coupling. In 2011, I received the achievement award at the 53rd ASH Annual American Society of Hematology.

Research Interests

Cancer stem cells and immunotherapy.

Research Projects

NSFC (China) Project (81972753)            

01/01/2020 to 12/01/2023

Suping Zhang, PI    ￥550,000

ROR2 in Breast Cancer Metastasis and Recurrence

Shenzhen Science and Technology Basic Research Subject Layout Project           

04/01/2019 to 03/01/2022

Suping Zhang, PI     ￥2,000,000

Targeted therapy of tyrosine kinase orphan receptor in malignant tumors

Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission grant        

04/01/2018 to 03/31/2020

Suping Zhang, PI      ￥500,000

A new target for breast cancer stem cells ROR2 research and antibody development

NSFC (China) Project (81672912)         

01/01/2017 to 12/31/2021

Suping Zhang, PI        ￥640,000

ROR1 in Breast Cancer Stem Cell Study

Selected Peer-reviewed Publications

1. Zhang S#, Zhang H#, Ghia E M, Huang J, Wu L, Zhang J, Lam S, Lei Y, He J, Cui B, Widhopf II G F, Yu J, Schwab R, Messer K, Jiang W, Parker B A, Carson D*, and Kipps TJ*.Inhibition of chemotherapy resistant breast cancer stem cells by a ROR1 specific antibody. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), 2019, 116 (4):1370-1377.

2. Zhang J, Lin X, Wu L, Huang JJ, Jiang WQ, Kipps TJ, Zhang S* Aurora B induces epithelial–mesenchymal transition by stabilizing Snail1 to promote basal-like breast cancer metastasis, Oncogene, 2020, In Press.

3. Zhang S#, Cui B#, Lai H, Liu G, Ghia E M, Widhopf G F, Zhang Z, Wu C C, Chen L, Wu R, Schwab R, Carson D*, Kipps TJ*, Ovarian cancer stem cells express ROR1, which can be targeted for anti-cancer-stem-cell therapy, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), 2014, 111:17266-17271

4. Zhang S, Kipps TJ*. The Pathogenesis of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, Annual Review of Pathology, Mechanisms of Disease, 2014, 9:103-118

5. Zhang S, Wu C, Fecteau J-F, Cui B, Chen L, Zhang L, Wu R, Rassenti L, Lao FS, Weigand S, Kipps TJ, Targeting Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Cells with a Humanized Monoclonal Antibody Specific for CD44, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), 2013, 110: 6127-6132