Institute of Cancer Research SZBL

Team Overview

With the notion of science above everything else, a strong tumor research team has been formed, combined with the academic background and interests of the scientists, and concentrated on tackling key tumor science and clinical core issues.

Lei Zhang

Junior Principal Investigator

Email: leah.zhanglei@szbl.ac.cn

Research Areas

The Lei Zhang lab focuses on utilizing single-cell omics to unravel the pathogenesis and mechanisms of immunotherapies in cancer and other immune-related diseases, aiming to rationalize the selection of current treatment strategies. More specifically, we use combined single-cell analyses from mouse models and patients to delineate the function of treatment-related immune cell subsets, dissect novel mechanisms of immunotherapies, and explore how pre-cancer turns into cancer. Prof. Lei Zhang has systematically depicted the fundamental properties of single immune cells in colorectal cancer and identified specific lymphoid and myeloid subsets related to immunotherapies. She has also co-developed a novel analysis framework to track the dynamic relationships of T cells in human tissues.

Honors

2020 – 2021, High-Level Professional in Shenzhen (National-Level Talent)

2018 – 2019, Bayer-Peking University Center for Translational Research Postdoc

2018 – 2019, Outstanding Postdoctoral Research Fellow, PKU

2016 – 2019, Outstanding Postdoctoral Fellowship, Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, CLS

2012 – 2013, May 4th Scholarship, PKU

2011 – 2012, Guanghua Scholarship, PKU

2007 – 2008, University-Level Outstanding Student Cadres, MUC

2005 – 2008, Scholarships for outstanding student (triple “first prize”), MUC

Pictorial View

Timeline

2021 - Present

Junior Principal Investigator, Shenzhen Bay Laboratory

Tenure-track Assistant Professor (joint appointment), Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School
2016 - 2020

Postdoctoral Research Fellow,School of Life Sciences, BIOPIC, Center for Life Sciences (CLS), Peking University
2009 - 2016

PhD,Peking University
2005 - 2009

B.S,Minzu University of China

Highlights

Dr. Lei Zhang is a Junior Principal Investigator at Shenzhen Bay Laboratory and Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School. She got her Ph.D. from the Institute of Molecular Medicine at Peking University and completed postdoctoral training at Peking University BIOPIC. Dr. Lei Zhang’s research focuses on single-cell analyses of the tumor microenvironment and the development of next-generation immunotherapeutic strategies. Her recent work includes delineating the dynamic relationships of T cells in colorectal cancer (Nature, 2018), uncovering the mechanisms underlying myeloid-targeted immunotherapies (Cell, 2020), and mapping the cellular architecture of inflammatory bowel disease (Nat Comput Sci, 2023). These works have been awarded as "Top 10 Bioinformatics Advances in China of 2018", "Best of Cell 2020", and the "First Prize of Beijing Science and Technology." Dr. Lei Zhang is supported by the National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars, National Key Research and Development Program of China, and Shenzhen Science and Technology Program.

Selected Publications

1. Lei Zhang#; Xin Yu#; Liangtao Zheng#; Yuanyuan Zhang#; Yansen Li; Qiao Fang; Ranran Gao; Boxi Kang; Qiming Zhang; Julie Y. Huang; Hiroyasu Konno; Xinyi Guo; Yingjiang Ye; Songyuan Gao; Shan Wang; Xueda Hu; Xianwen Ren; Zhanlong Shen*; Wenjun Ouyang*; Zemin Zhang*; Lineage tracking reveals dynamic relationships of T cells in colorectal cancer. Nature, 2018, 564(7735): 268-272.
2. Lei Zhang; Zemin Zhang*; Recharacterizing tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes by single-cell RNA sequencing. Cancer Immunology Research, 2019, 7(7): 1040-1046.
3. Lei Zhang#; Ziyi Li#; Katarzyna M. Skrzypczynska#; Qiao Fang; Wei Zhang; Sarah A. O'Brien; Yao He; Lynn Wang; Qiming Zhang; Aeryon Kim; Ranran Gao; Jessica Orf; Tao Wang; Deepali Sawant; Jiajinlong Kang; Dev Bhatt; Daniel Lu; Chi-Ming Li; Aaron S. Rapaport; Kristy Perez; Yingjiang Ye; Shan Wang; Xueda Hu; Xianwen Ren; Wenjun Ouyang; Zhanlong Shen*; Jackson G. Egen*; Zemin Zhang*; Xin Yu*; Single-cell analyses inform mechanisms of myeloid-targeted therapies in colon cancer. Cell, 2020, 181(2): 442-459.
4. Xianwen Ren#; Lei Zhang#; Yuanyuan Zhang; Ziyi Li; Nathan Siemers; Zemin Zhang*; Insights gained from single-cell analysis of immune cells in the tumor microenvironment. Annual Review of Immunology, 2021, 39: 583-609.
5. Hu Nie#; Peilu Lin; Yu Zhang; Yihong Wan; Jiesheng Li; Chengqian Yin; Lei Zhang*; Single-cell meta-analysis of inflammatory bowel disease with scIBD. Nature Computational Science, 2023, 3: 522–531.
6. Xinyi Guo#，Hu Nie#，Wenwen Zhang#，Jiesheng Li，Jing Ge，Bowen Xie，Wenbo Hu，Yicheng Zhu，Na Zhong，Xinmei Zhang，Xiaohong Zhao， Xiaoshuang Wang，Qinli Sun，Kun Wei， Xiaoyuan Chen，Ling Ni，Ting Zhang，Shichun Lu*，Lei Zhang*，Chen Dong*；Contrasting cytotoxic and regulatory T cell responses underlying distinct clinical outcomes to anti-PD-1 plus lenvatinib therapy in cancer. Cancer Cell, 2025, 43, 2: 248-268.