Liying Zhang, MD, PhD

Dr. Liying Zhang's research interests are to:

1. Characterize the genetic mutations in human cancers to identity biomarkers of cancer progression and drug response;
2. Characterize the germline mutation spectrum in human cancers for cancer prevention and treatment such as PARP inhibitors;
3. Characterize, interpret and classify variant of uncertain significance (VUS) in tumor suppressor genes; and
4. Identify genetic alterations (mutations and epigenetics) associated with immunotherapy resistance and/or toxicity.

Zhang L, Walsh MF, Jairam S, Mandelker D, Zhong Y, Kemel Y, Chen YB, Musheyev D, Zehir A, Jayakumaran G, Brzostowski E, Birsoy O, Yang C, Li Y, Somar J, DeLair D, Pradhan N, Berger MF, Cadoo K, Carlo MI, Robson ME, Stadler ZK, Iacobuzio-Donahue CA, Joseph V, Offit K. Fumarate hydratase FH c.1431_1433dupAAA (p.Lys477dup) variant is not associated with cancer including renal cell carcinoma. Hum Mutat. 2020 Jan;41(1):103-109. doi: 10.1002/humu.23900. Epub 2019 Sep 3.

Jonsson P, Bandlamudi C, Cheng ML, Srinivasan P, Chavan SS, Friedman ND, Rosen EY, Richards AL, Bouvier N, Selcuklu SD, Bielski CM, Abida W, Mandelker D, Birsoy O, Zhang L, Zehir A, Donoghue MTA, Baselga J, Offit K, Scher HI, O'Reilly EM, Stadler ZK, Schultz N, Socci ND, Viale A, Ladanyi M, Robson ME, Hyman DM, Berger MF, Solit DB, Taylor BS. Tumour lineage shapes BRCA-mediated phenotypes. Nature. 2019 Jul;571(7766):576-579. doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1382-1. Epub 2019 Jul 10. Erratum in: Nature. 2019 Dec 11;:.

Middha S, Zhang L, Nafa K, Jayakumaran G, Wong D, Kim HR, Sadowska J, Berger MF, Delair DF, Shia J, Stadler Z, Klimstra DS, Ladanyi M, Zehir A, Hechtman JF. Reliable Pan-Cancer Microsatellite Instability Assessment by Using Targeted Next-Generation Sequencing Data. JCO Precis Oncol. 2017;2017. doi: 10.1200/PO.17.00084. Epub 2017 Oct 3.

Mandelker D, Zhang L, Kemel Y, Stadler ZK, Joseph V, Zehir A, Pradhan N, Arnold A, Walsh MF, Li Y, Balakrishnan AR, Syed A, Prasad M, Nafa K, Carlo MI, Cadoo KA, Sheehan M, Fleischut MH, Salo-Mullen E, Trottier M, Lipkin SM, Lincoln A, Mukherjee S, Ravichandran V, Cambria R, Galle J, Abida W, Arcila ME, Benayed R, Shah R, Yu K, Bajorin DF, Coleman JA, Leach SD, Lowery MA, Garcia-Aguilar J, Kantoff PW, Sawyers CL, Dickler MN, Saltz L, Motzer RJ, O'Reilly EM, Scher HI, Baselga J, Klimstra DS, Solit DB, Hyman DM, Berger MF, Ladanyi M, Robson ME, Offit K. Mutation Detection in Patients With Advanced Cancer by Universal Sequencing of Cancer-Related Genes in Tumor and Normal DNA vs Guideline-Based Germline Testing. JAMA. 2017 Sep 5;318(9):825-835. doi: 10.1001/jama.2017.11137.

Cheng DT, Prasad M, Chekaluk Y, Benayed R, Sadowska J, Zehir A, Syed A, Wang YE, Somar J, Li Y, Yelskaya Z, Wong D, Robson ME, Offit K, Berger MF, Nafa K, Ladanyi M, Zhang L. Comprehensive detection of germline variants by MSK-IMPACT, a clinical diagnostic platform for solid tumor molecular oncology and concurrent cancer predisposition testing. BMC Med Genomics. 2017 May 19;10(1):33. doi: 10.1186/s12920-017-0271-4.