Case Western Reserve University · BiologyZhao Lab
Chen Zhao · Cleveland, Ohio
Research Focus
Dr. Chen Zhao's lab at Case Western Reserve University focuses on understanding and targeting leukemia stem cells to improve treatments for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The lab investigates the role of heat shock transcription factor 1 (HSF1) in maintaining cancer cell survival and potential therapies that can effectively eliminate these stem cells. Additionally, they explore how changes in clonal hematopoiesis can either lead to blood cancers or beneficial immune responses, aiming to shift harmful changes back to healthy blood cell formation.
acute myeloid leukemialeukemia stem cellsheat shock proteinsclonal hematopoiesisstem cell biologycancer therapybiomarker identificationmetabolismdrug discoverytherapeutics
Research Aims
5AIM 01Determine the effects of HSF1 degraders on leukemia stem cell self-renewal.
AIM 02Elucidate mechanisms of resistance to HSF1-targeting therapies in AML.
AIM 03Investigate how targeting HSF1 alters clonal hematopoiesis.
AIM 04Explore the relationship between HSF1 deletion and hematopoietic stem cell function.
AIM 05Identify biomarkers to predict patient responses to HSF1 inhibitors.
Skills the Lab Values
cell culturemouse modelsgene knockout techniquesbiomarker identificationdrug testing in xenograftsWestern blotPCRRNA sequencingflow cytometrymicroscopy
Output against the department
Publications370top 13% of dept.136th of 1,033
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations11ktop 35% of dept.359th of 1,033
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.