Zhaohui Gu, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Computational and Quantitative Medicine
Research Area
Identifying novel leukemia subtypes and the driver genetic lesions
Developing clinically applicable leukemia classification system
Developing machine-learning based analysis tools for leukemia/cancer genomics studies
Studying the mechanism of leukemogenesis in each disease subtype
Developing therapeutic strategies for each leukemia subtype
Appointments
Assistant Professor, Department of Computational and Quantitative Medicine
Assistant Professor, Department of Systems Biology
Member, City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center - Hematologic Malignancies Program
Research Teams
Zhaohui Gu, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Computational and Quantitative Medicine (primary) and the Department of Sysems Biology (secondary) at the Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope.
Dr. Gu obtained his bachelor's degree in Biomedical Engineering from Xi'an Jiao Tong University in 2008, then he joined Dr. Zhu Chen's laboratory at Shanghai Institute of Hematology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University for his doctorial training. After receiving a Ph.D. degree in Biology and Bioinformatics, he pursued postdoctoral training at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital from 2015 to 2020, under the mentorship form Dr. Charles Mullighan.
Dr. Gu’s research has focused on leukemia genomics and led to productive publications in Nature, Nature Genetics, Nature Communications, Bioinformatics, PNAS, etc. His research has been supported by the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Scholar Award, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) Special Fellow Award, and NIH/NCI K99/R00 Award.
2014, Ph.D., Biology/Bioinformatics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
2008, BE, Biomedical Engineering, Xi'an Jiao Tong University, Xi'an, China
2015-2020, Pathology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN
2020-present, Assistant Professor, Department of Computational and Quantitative Medicine, Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope, Duarte, California
2020-present, Assistant Professor, Department of Systems Biology, Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope, Duarte, California
2019, NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00), National Cancer Institute
2018, American Society of Hematology (ASH) Scholar Award
2018, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) Career Development Program Special Fellow Award
2018, International Society of Pediatric Oncology (SIOP) Young Investigator Award
2018, American Society of Hematology (ASH) Abstract Achievement Award
2016, Member, American Society of Hematology
2018, Member, Society of Hematologic Oncology
2018, Member, International Society of Pediatric Oncology
Publications (*co-first)
Yan XJ*, Xu J*, Gu Z*, Pan CM*, Lu G*, Shen Y, Shi JY, Zhu YM, Tang L, Zhang XW, Liang WX, Mi JQ, Song HD, Li KQ, Chen Z, Chen SJ. Exome sequencing identifies somatic mutations of DNA methyltransferase gene DNMT3A in acute monocytic leukemia. Nature Genetics. 2011; 43(4):309-15. DOI: 10.1038/ng.788.
Chu X*, Pan CM*, Zhao SX*, Liang J*, Gao GQ*, Zhang XM*, Yuan GY, Li CG, Xue LQ, Shen M, Liu W, Xie F, Yang SY, Wang HF, Shi JY, Sun WW, Du WH, Zuo CL, Shi JX, Liu BL, Guo CC, Zhan M, Gu Z, Zhang XN, Sun F, Wang ZQ, Song ZY, Zou CY, Sun WH, Guo T, Cao HM, Ma JH, Han B, Li P, Jiang H, Huang QH, Liang L, Liu LB, Chen G, Su Q, Peng YD, Zhao JJ, Ning G, Chen Z, Chen JL, Chen SJ, Huang W, Song HD. A genome-wide association study identifies two new risk loci for Graves' disease. Nature Genetics. 2011; 43(9):897-901. DOI: 10.1038/ng.898.
Shen Y*, Zhu YM*, Fan X*, Shi JY*, Wang QR*, Yan XJ, Gu Z, Wang YY, Chen B, Jiang CL, Yan H, Chen FF, Chen HM, Chen Z, Jin J, Chen SJ. Gene mutation patterns and their prognostic impact in a cohort of 1185 patients with acute myeloid leukemia. Blood. 2011; 118(20):5593-603. DOI: 10.1182/blood-2011-03-343988.
Liu W*, Wang HN*, Gu Z*, Yang SY*, Ye XP, Pan CM, Zhao SX, Xue LQ, Xie HJ, Yu SS, Guo CC, Du WH, Liang J, Zhang XM, Yuan GY, Li CG, Su Q, Gao GQ, Song HD. Identification of BACH2 as a susceptibility gene for Graves' disease in the Chinese Han population based on a three-stage genome-wide association study. Hum Genet. 2013; 133(5):661-71. DOI: 10.1007/s00439-013-1404-2.
Xue LQ*, Pan CM*, Gu Z*, Zhao SX, Han B, Liu W, Yang SY, Yu SS, Sun YX, Liang J, Gao GQ, Zhang XM, Yuan GY, Li CG, Du WH, Chen G, Chen JL, Song HD. Genetic heterogeneity of susceptibility gene in different ethnic populations: Refining association study of PTPN22 for Graves' disease in a Chinese Han population. PLoS One, 2013; 8(12):e84514. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0084514.
Zheng CX*, Gu Z*, Han B*, Zhang RX, Pan CM, Xiang Y, Rong XJ, Chen X, Li QY, Wan HY. Whole-exome sequencing to identify novel somatic mutations in squamous cell lung cancers. Int J Oncol. 2013; 43(3):755-64. DOI: 10.3892/ijo.2013.1991.
Zhao SX*, Xue LQ*, Liu W*, Gu Z*, Pan CM*, Yang SY*, Zhan M, Wang HN, Liang J, Gao GQ, Zhang XM, Yuan GY, Li CG, Du WH, Liu BL, Liu LB, Chen G, Su Q, Peng YD, Zhao JJ, Ning G, Huang W, Liang L, Qi L, Chen SJ, Chen Z, Chen JL, Song HD. Robust evidence for five new Graves' disease risk loci from a staged genome-wide association analysis. Hum Mol Genet. 2013; 22(16):3347-62. DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddt183.
Zhao SX*, Liu W*, Zhan M*, Song ZY, Yang SY, Xue LQ, Pan CM, Gu Z, Liu BL, Wang HN, Liang L, Liang J, Zhang XM, Yuan GY, Li CG, Chen MD, Chen JL, Gao GQ, Song HD. China Consortium for the Genetics of Autoimmune Thyroid D. A refined study of FCRL genes from a genome-wide association study for Graves' disease. PloS One. 2013; 8(3):e57758. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0057758.
Song ZY*, Liu W*, Xue LQ*, Pan CM, Wang HN, Gu Z, Yang SY, Cao HM, Zuo CL, Zhang XN, Jiang H, Liu BL, Bi YX, Zhang XM, Zhao SX, Song HD. Dense mapping of IL2RA shows no association with Graves' disease in Chinese Han population. Clinical Endocrinology. 2013; 79(2):267-74. DOI: 10.1111/cen.12115.
Xu L*, Gu Z*, Li Y*, Zhang JL*, Chang CK*, Pan CM, Shi JY, Shen Y, Chen B, Wang YY, Chen Y, Wang SY, Jiang L, Lu J, Xu X, Tan JL, Li X, Chen Z, Chen SJ. Genomic Landscape of CD34+ Hematopoietic Cells in Myelodysplastic Syndrome and Gene Mutation Profiles as Prognostic Markers. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014; 111(23):8589-94. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1407688111.
Zhan M*, Chen G*, Pan CM*, Gu Z*, Zhao SX*, Liu W*, Wang HN, Ye XP, Xie HJ, Yu SS, Liang J, Gao GQ, Yuan GY, Zhang XM, Zuo CL, Su B, Huang W, Ning G, Chen SJ, Chen JL, Song HD. Genome-wide association study identifies a novel susceptibility gene for serum TSH levels in Chinese populations. Hum Mol Genet. 2014; 23(20):5505-17. DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddu250.
Xu J*, Wang YY*, Dai YJ*, Zhang W, Zhang WN, Xiong SM, Gu Z, Wang KK, Zeng R, Chen Z, Chen SJ. DNMT3A Arg882 mutation drives chronic myelomonocytic leukemia through disturbing gene expression/DNA methylation in hematopoietic cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014; 111(7):2620-5. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1400150111.
Yang F*, Xiong J*, Jia XE, Gu Z, Shi JY, Zhao Y, Li JM, Chen SJ, Zhao WL. GSTT1 deletion is related to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons-induced DNA damage and lymphoma progression. PloS One. 2014; 9(2):e89302. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0089302.
Liu BL*, Yang SY*, Liu W, Xue LQ, Chen X, Pan CM, Gu Z, Zhan M, Zhang XM, Liang J, Gao GQ, Du WH, Yuan GY, Ying R, Zhao SX, Song HD. Refined association of TSH receptor susceptibility locus to Graves' disease in the Chinese Han population. European Journal of Endocrinology. 2014; 170(1):109-19. DOI: 10.1530/EJE-13-0517.
Jiang L*, Gu Z*, Yan ZX*, Zhao X*, Xie YY, Zhang ZG, Pan CM, Hu Y, Cai CP, Dong Y, Huang JY, Wang L, Shen Y, Meng G, Zhou JF, Hu JD, Wang JF, Liu YH, Yang LH, Zhang F, Wang JM, Wang Z, Peng ZG, Chen FY, Sun ZM, Ding H, Shi JM, Hou J, Yan JS, Shi JY, Xu L, Li Y, Lu J, Zheng Z, Xue W, Zhao WL, Chen Z, Chen SJ. Exome sequencing identifies somatic mutations of DDX3X in natural killer/T-cell lymphoma. Nature Genetics. 2015; 47(9):1061-6. DOI: 10.1038/ng.3358.
Shen Y*, Fu YK*, Zhu Y-M, Lou YJ, Gu Z, Shi JY, Chen B, Chen C, Zhu HH, Hu J, Zhao WL, Mi JQ, Chen L, Zhu HM, Shen ZX, Jin J, Wang ZY, Li JM, Chen Z, Chen SJ. Mutations of Epigenetic Modifier Genes as a Poor Prognostic Factor in Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia Under Treatment With All-Trans Retinoic Acid and Arsenic Trioxide. EBioMedicine. 2015; 2(6):563-71. DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2015.04.006.
Yu XJ, Yang MJ, Zhou B, Wang GZ, Huang YC, Wu LC, Cheng X, Wen ZS, Huang JY, Zhang YD, Gao XH, Li GF, He SW, Gu Z, Ma L, Pan CM, Wang P, Chen HB, Hong ZP, Wang XL, Mao WJ, Jin XL, Kang H, Chen ST, Zhu YQ, Gu WY, Liu Z, Dong H, Tian LW, Chen SJ, Cao Y, Wang SY, Zhou GB. Characterization of Somatic Mutations in Air PollutionRelated Lung Cancer. EBioMedicine. 2015; 2(6):583-90. DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2015.04.003.
Gu Z, Churchman M, Roberts K, Li Y, Liu Y, Harvey RC, McCastlain K, Reshmi SC, Payne-Turner D, Iacobucci I, Shao Y, Chen IM, Valentine M, Pei D, Mungall KL, Mungall AJ, Ma Y, Moore R, Marra M, Stonerock E, Gastier-Foster JM, Devidas M, Dai Y, Wood B, Borowitz M, Larsen EE, Maloney K, Mattano Jr LA, Angiolillo A, Salzer WL, Burke MJ, Gianni F, Spinelli O, Radich JP, Minden MD, Moorman AV, Patel B, Fielding AK, Rowe JM, Luger SM, Bhatia R, Aldoss I, Forman SJ, Kohlschmidt J, Mrózek K, Marcucci G, Bloomfield CD, Stock W, Kornblau S, Kantarjian HM, Konopleva M, Paietta E, Willman CL, L. Loh M, P. Hunger SP, Mullighan CG. Genomic analyses identify recurrent MEF2D fusions in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Nature Communications. 2016; 7:13331. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13331.
Iacobucci I*, Li Y*, Roberts KG, Dobson SM, Kim JC, Payne-Turner D, Harvey RC, Valentine M, McCastlain K, Easton J, Yergeau D, Janke LJ, Shao Y, Chen IM, Rusch M, Zandi S, Kornblau SM, Konopleva M, Jabbour E, Paietta EM, Rowe JM, Pui CH, Gastier-Foster J, Gu Z, Reshmi S, Loh ML, Racevskis J, Tallman MS, Wiernik PH, Litzow MR, Willman CL, McPherson JD, Downing JR, Zhang J, Dick JE, Hunger SP, Mullighan CG. Truncating Erythropoietin Receptor Rearrangements in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Cancer Cell. 2016; 29(2):186-200. DOI: 10.1016
Roberts KG, Gu Z, Payne-Turner D, McCastlain K, Harvey RC, Chen IM, Pei D, Iacobucci I, Valentine M, Pounds SB, Shi L, Li Y, Zhang J, Cheng C, Rambaldi A, Tosi M, Spinelli O, Radich JP, Minden MD, Rowe JM, Luger S, Litzow MR, Tallman MS, Wiernik PH, Bhatia R, Aldoss I, Kohlschmidt J, Mrozek K, Marcucci G, Bloomfield CD, Stock W, Kornblau S, Kantarjian HM, Konopleva M, Paietta E, Willman CL, Mullighan CG. High Frequency and Poor Outcome of Philadelphia Chromosome-Like Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Adults. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2017; 35(4):394-401. DOI: 10.1200/JCO.2016.69.0073.
Reshmi SC, Harvey RC, Roberts KG, Stonerock E, Smith A, Jenkins H, Chen IM, Valentine M, Liu Y, Li Y, Shao Y, Easton J, Payne-Turner D, Gu Z, Tran TH, Nguyen JV, Devidas M, Dai Y, Heerema NA, Carroll AJ, 3rd, Raetz EA, Borowitz MJ, Wood BL, Angiolillo AL, Burke MJ, Salzer WL, Zweidler-McKay PA, Rabin KR, Carroll WL, Zhang J, Loh ML, Mullighan CG, Willman CL, Gastier-Foster JM, Hunger SP. Targetable kinase gene fusions in high-risk B-ALL: a study from the Children's Oncology Group. Blood. 2017; 129(25):3352-3361. DOI: 10.1182/blood-2016-12-758979.
Alexander TB*, Gu Z*, Iacobucci I*, Dickerson K, Choi JK, Xu B, Payne-Turner D, Yoshihara H, Loh ML, Horan J, Buldini B, Basso G, Elitzur S, Haas V, C Zwaan CM, Yeoh A, Reinhardt D, Tomizawa D, Kiyokawa N, Lammens T, Moerloose BD, Catchpoole D, Hori H, Moorman A, Moore AS, Hrusak O, Meshinchi S, Orgel E, Devidas M, Borowitz M, Wood B, Heerema NA, Carrol A, Yang YL, Smith MA, Davidsen TM, Hermida LC, Gesuwan P, Marra MA, Ma Y, Mungall AJ, Moore RA, Jones SJM, Valentine M, Janke LJ, Rubnitz JE, Pui CH, Ding L, Liu Y, Zhang J, Nichols KE, Downing JR, Cao X, Shi L, Pounds S, Newman S, Pei D, Guidry Auvil JM, Gerhard DS, Hunger SP, Inaba H, Mullighan CG. The genetic basis and cell of origin of mixed phenotype acute leukemia. Nature. 2018; 562(7727):373-379. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0436-0.
Gu Z, Mullighan CG. ShinyCNV: a Shiny/R application to view and annotate DNA copy number variations. Bioinformatics. 2018; 35(1):126-129. DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/bty546.
Gu Z*, Churchman ML*, Roberts KG*, Moore I, Zhou X, Nakitandwe J, Hagiwara K, Pelletier S, Gingras S, Berns H, Payne-Turner D, Hill A, Iacobucci I, Shi L, Pounds S, Cheng C, Pei D, Qu C, Newman S, Devidas M, Dai Y, Reshmi SC, Gastier-Foster J, Raetz EA, Borowitz MJ, Wood BL, Carroll WL, Zweidler-McKay PA, Rabin KR, Mattano LA, Maloney KW, Rambaldi A, Spinelli O, Radich JP, Minden MD, Rowe JM, Luger S, Litzow MR, Tallman MS, Racevskis J, Zhang Y, Bhatia R, Kohlschmidt J, Mrózek K, Bloomfield CD, Stock W, Kornblau S, Kantarjian HM, Konopleva M, Evans WE, Jeha S, Pui CH, Yang J, Paietta E, Downing J, Relling MV, Zhang J, Loh ML, Hunger SP, Mullighan CG. PAX5-driven Subtypes of B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Nature Genetics. 2019; 51(2):296-307. DOI: 10.1038/s41588-018-0315-5.