Yi Zheng, PhD

Director, Experimental Hematology and Cancer Biology
Institute Co- Executive Director, Cancer and Blood Diseases Institute
Marjory Johnson Endowed Chair of Drug Discovery
Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics

yi.zheng@cchmc.org

My Lab

Visit the Zheng Lab

About

BS: Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, 1986.

MS: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 1988.

PhD: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 1991.

Postdoctoral Fellow: Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 1995.

Services and Specialties

Interests

Using transgenic and gene targeted mouse models to study the physiological and pathological roles of Rho GTPases and their regulators in hematopoiesis, neurogenesis, lung cancer development and small intestinal stem cell regulations mechanism based, rational design of small molecule inhibitors targeting Rho GTPase signaling modules and pathologic functions in cancer and blood diseases; mouse model studies of mTor signaling function in hematopoietic stem cells and small intestinal stem cells.

Research Areas

Publications

Selected

Adaptive responses to mTOR gene targeting in hematopoietic stem cells reveal a proliferative mechanism evasive to mTOR inhibition. Fan, C; Zhao, C; Zhang, F; Kesarwani, M; Tu, Z; Cai, X; Davis, AK; Xu, L; Hochstetler, CL; Chen, X; Azam, M; Tian, W; Lu, QR; Zheng, Y. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA. 2021; 118:e2020102118.

Selected

Yap1-Scribble polarization is required for hematopoietic stem cell division and fate. Althoff, MJ; Nayak, RC; Hegde, S; Wellendorf, AM; Bohan, B; Filippi, MD; Xin, M; Richard Lu, Q; Geiger, H; Zheng, Y; Diaz-Meco, MT; Moscat, J; Cancelas, JA. Blood. 2020; 136:1824-1836.

Selected

Inhibition of Cdc42 activity extends lifespan and decreases circulating inflammatory cytokines in aged female C57BL/6 mice. Florian, MC; Leins, H; Gobs, M; Han, Y; Marka, G; Soller, K; Vollmer, A; Sakk, V; Nattamai, KJ; Rayes, A; Mulaw, M; Wagner, W; Zheng, Y; Geiger, H. Aging Cell. 2020; 19:e13208.

Selected

Adaptive response to inflammation contributes to sustained myelopoiesis and confers a competitive advantage in myelodysplastic syndrome HSCs. Muto, T; Walker, CS; Choi, K; Hueneman, K; Smith, MA; Gul, Z; Garcia-Manero, G; Ma, A; Zheng, Y; Starczynowski, DT. Nature Immunology. 2020; 21:535-545.

Selected

ARHGEF12 regulates erythropoiesis and is involved in erythroid regeneration after chemotherapy in acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients. Xie, Y; Gao, L; Xu, C; Chu, L; Gao, L; Wu, R; Liu, Y; Liu, T; Sun, X; Ren, R; Tang, J; Zheng, Y; Zhou, Y; Shen, S. Haematologica: the hematology journal. 2020; 105:925-936.

Selected

Latexin regulation by HMGB2 is required for hematopoietic stem cell maintenance. Zhang, C; Fondufe-Mittendorf, YN; Wang, C; Chen, J; Cheng, Q; Zhou, D; Zheng, Y; Geiger, H; Liang, Y. Haematologica: the hematology journal. 2020; 105:573-584.

Selected

Rho GTPase-Activating Proteins in Cancer. Grogg, MW; Zheng, Y. The Rho GTPases in Cancer. : Springer Nature; Springer Nature; 2010.

Neutrophil-derived vesicles control complement activation to facilitate inflammation resolution. Hsu, AY; Huang, Q; Pi, X; Fu, J; Raghunathan, K; Ghimire, L; Balasubramanian, A; Xie, X; Yu, H; Loison, F; Thiagarajah, JR; Wu, H; Feng, S; Luo, HR. Cell. 2025; 188:1623-1641.e26.

Tunneling nanotube-like structures regulate distant cellular interactions during heart formation. Miao, L; Lu, Y; Nusrat, A; Fan, G; Zhang, S; Zhao, L; Wu, CL; Guo, H; Huyen, TL N; Zheng, Y; Wan, LQ; Zhou, B; Evans, SM; Wu, M. Science. 2025; 387:eadd3417.

Structural Dynamics of Rho GTPases. Lin, Y; Zheng, Y. Journal of Molecular Biology. 2025; 437:168919.

From the Blog

Stem Cell Rejuvenation Technology Licensed to Mogling Bio

Cancer

Yi Zheng, PhD