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Shujie Zhao, MD

Assistant Professor/Research

Patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma that show an initial response to chemotherapy generally develop resistance during their course of therapy. Cancer cells undergo adaptive changes in response to stresses involves a phenotypic switch with cells undergoing an epithelial to mesenchymal transition and expressing stem cell markers. The consequences of this switch are resistant to chemotherapy and more invasive. We focus on understanding the molecular basis of adaptive plasticity to find new strategies by either inhibiting these adaptive responses or by identifying molecules that can be targeted to improve response to therapy. We also work to develop hematopoietic stem cell transplantation-based gene therapy to deliver therapeutic factors for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s as well as neuronal malignances.