St. Jude Research
Computational Biology

Jinghui Zhang Lab

Advancing genomic research in the pursuit of improved cures for pediatric cancer

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About the Zhang Lab

We develop innovative analytical and visualization software tools to advance genomic analysis that enables finding cures for pediatric cancer and other diseases. We are committed to sharing data and software tools with the broad biomedical research community. 

The Team

The Zhang Lab has a creative team with multi-dimensional expertise in mathematics, biology, and physics

Meet the Team

In the news

Researchers successfully treat pediatric high-risk refractory neuroblastoma with PARP inhibition. Learn more about this targeted treatment. 

In the news

To wipe childhood cancer off the map, scientists must chart its genomic landscape
Scientists from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital sequenced the most childhood cancer samples from a single cancer type ever in a landmark study. Find out more.

In the News

Cancer is not a monolith but a landscape of diseases with different drivers. Scientists at St. Jude are leading studies on how understanding molecular groups can advance cancer care. Read about it. #StJudeOn

In the news

Studying genomics means creating big data. Scientists at St. Jude have developed numerous tools and techniques for tackling data with cutting-edge visualizations and analysis. Learn more. #StJudeOn

In the news

Jinghui Zhang, PhD, elected one of 15 Fellows of the International Society for Computational Biology for 2023. Read more.

Research Summary

By investigating genomic variations in pediatric cancer—both somatic acquired alterations and germline predisposition variants, we aim to understand their role in cancer initiation and progression. We develop innovative software tools and collaborate with other investigators to discover novel targets including those for immunotherapy. Our group is also an instrumental contributor to the St. Jude Cloud initiative – a platform for sharing pediatric cancer data with the global research community.

Current areas of research include 1) discovery of non-coding driver variants in pediatric cancer by integrating epigenetics and 3D genome architecture.; 2) discovery of novel CAR-T targets; 3) therapy-related clonal hematopoiesis in pediatric cancer survivors; 4) optimization of computational methods to advance clinical genomics assays. 

Selected Publications

Response to PARP Inhibition in BARD1-Mutated Refractory Neuroblastoma
Cupit-Link et al. N Engl J Med, 2024
Unifying heterogeneous expression data to predict targets for CAR-T cell therapy
Schreiner et al. OncoImmunology, 2021
St. Jude Cloud: a pediatric cancer genomic data-sharing ecosystem
McLeod C et al. Cancer Discov, 2021
Discovery of regulatory noncoding variants in individual cancer genomes by using cis-X
Liu Y et al. Nat Genet, 2020
Spectrum and prevalence of genetic predisposition in medulloblastoma: a retrospective genetic study and prospective validation in a clinical trial cohort
Waszak SM, et al. Lancet Oncol . 2018 Jun;19(6):785-798
Pan-cancer genome and transcriptome analyses of 1,699 paediatric leukaemias and solid tumours
Ma X, et al. Nature, March 2018
The landscape of genomic alterations across childhood cancers
Grobner, et al. Nature. March 2018
The molecular landscape of pediatric acute myeloid leukemia reveals recurrent structural alterations and age-specific mutational interactions
Bolouri H, et al. Nat Med, Jan 2018
Exploring genomic alteration in pediatric cancer using ProteinPaint
Zhou et al. Nature Genetics, 2015
Germline mutations in predisposition genes in pediatric cancer.
Zhang J et al. N Engl J Med, 2015
The genetic basis of early T-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
Zhang J, et al. Nature 2012
A novel retinoblastoma therapy from genomic and epigenetic analyses
Zhang J, et al. Nature 2012
CREST maps somatic structural variation in cancer genomes with base-pair resolution
Wang J, et al. Nat Methods 2011

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Join us

We are always looking for highly self-motivated scientists/engineers with passion and talent to join us! People with experimental background are also encouraged to apply.

Current open positions

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Contact us

We’d love to hear from you. If you have any questions or inquiries please get in touch with us.

Jinghui Zhang, PhD
Member, St. Jude Faculty
St. Jude Endowed Chair in Bioinformatics

Department of Computational Biology
MS 1135, Room IA-6038
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
262 Danny Thomas Place
Memphis, TN, 38105-3678

262 Danny Thomas Place
Memphis, TN, 38105-3678 USA
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