Zhican Qu, Ph.D.

Leader, Angiogenesis Research Laboratory
Southern Research Institute
2000 Ninth Avenue South
Birmingham, AL 35205
Phone: 205-581-2552
E-mail: qu@southernresearch.org

Biography

Dr. Qu joined Southern Research in 2001 and currently leads the Angiogenesis Research Laboratory. Additionally, she serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Comprehensive Cancer Center at The University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Qu received her Ph.D. in biophysics and biochemistry at Johns Hopkins University and obtained her postdoctoral training at Washington University School of Medicine. Prior to her career in life sciences, Dr. Qu obtained B.S. and M.S. degrees in Physics at Tsinghua University in China.

Research Focus: Angiogenesis and Tumor-Stromal Cell Interactions

Angiogenesis is a fundamental biological process. Clinical research in recent years has revealed that angiogenesis imbalance is involved in many human diseases. A specific finding from this research is that the progression of human malignant tumors depends on angiogenesis. Tumor growth is not determined solely by tumor cells but is governed by interactions between tumor and host stromal cells, including endothelial and fibroblastic stroma cells. Tumor stroma profoundly influences tumor growth, metastasis, and angiogenesis and promotes anticancer drug resistance. Dr. Qu's laboratory is involved in studying angiogenesis and tumor microenvironments with both in vitro and in vivo approaches and exploring possibilities of targeting tumor angiogenesis and stroma compartments for effective cancer therapeutic development. Current projects include:

• Targeting tumor angiogenesis for anticancer therapeutic development
• Defining the roles of VEGF, IGF, and PDGF signaling pathways in tumor-stromal interactions and their effects on cancer progression and treatment resistance
• Developing clinically relevant animal tumor models for translational cancer research