Liying Zhang - Physician Profile | Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

I am a board-certified molecular geneticist with a special interest in cancer genetics. As the director of the Diagnostic Molecular Genetics Laboratory at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, I am responsible for supervising the molecular diagnostic testing for inherited disorders — in particular the inherited forms of breast, ovarian, colorectal, and other types of cancers. The identification of genetic alterations enables better medical management options that can reduce risk through prevention or early detection. I have led the development and implementation of various new diagnostic genetic tests. I also oversee strategic planning for the laboratory's technologies, instrumentation, staffing, budget, and regulatory issues.

I am a member of the Clinical Testing Advisory Group (CTAG) at Memorial Sloan-Kettering. The role of CTAG is to evaluate the strength and quality of the clinical evidence supporting new assays and to determine whether the available evidence supports a uniform approach for providing these tests to our patients. With the availability of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology, I am actively bringing in innovative, cutting-edge clinical molecular diagnostic tests to provide physicians with the information they need to better care for their patients.

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I am also a member of InSiGHT (the International Society for the Study of Hereditary Gastrointestinal Tumors) and a member of InSiGHT's variant interpretation committee. Variant interpretation and classification is becoming more and more challenging and important with the availability of huge amounts of sequence variations obtained through NGS technologies. My contribution and leadership in this area will pave the way toward improved care for patients worldwide who have hereditary gastrointestinal tumors.

Furthermore, as associate director of the Molecular Genetics Pathology (MGP) fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, I teach MGP fellows in this ACGME-accredited training program and provide the appropriate academic environment for their growth to future leaders in the field.

My research has focused on two areas:

Interpretation, classification and characterization of the sequence variants in cancer predisposition genes such as BRCA1, BRCA2, MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, and CDH1. We use molecular biology, molecular genetics, and biochemical approaches to study how these sequence variants alter the function of the proteins sufficiently to predispose cells to cancer development. I lead ongoing research projects to investigate sequence variants related to hereditary breast, ovarian, gastric and colon cancers.
Identification and characterization of molecular alterations in human cancers that are responsible for clinically relevant features of the disease. We focus on genes and signaling pathways that contribute to the development and progression of prostate cancer and breast cancer.

These research efforts are designed to provide detailed information useful for diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic design.

Location

New York City

Phone

212-639-5170

Clinical Expertise

Diagnostic Molecular Genetics

Languages Spoken

English

Education

MD, Peking University (China); PhD, The Johns Hopkins University; MS (Bioinformatics), The Johns Hopkins University

Fellowships

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Board Certifications

Clinical Molecular Genetics

See My Colleagues in:

Department of Pathology›Diagnostic Molecular Pathology

Publications by Liying Zhang

Shia J, Zhang L, Shike M, Guo M, Stadler Z, Xiong X, Tang LH, Vakiani E, Katabi N, Wang H, Bacares R, Ruggeri J, Boland CR, Ladanyi M, Klimstra DS. Secondary mutation in a coding monomucleotide tract in MSH6 causes loss of immunoexpression of MSH6 in colorectal carcinomas with MLH1/PMS2 deficiency. Mod Pathol. 2012 Aug 24. doi10.1038/modpathol.2012.138.

Stadler ZK, Salo-Mullen E, Zhang L, Shia J, Bacares R, Power DG, Weiser M, Coit D, Robson ME, Offit K, Schattner M. Juveile Polyposis Syndrome Presenting with Familial Gastric Cancer and Massive Gastric Polyposis. J Clin Oncol. 2012 Jul 23.

Karamurzin Y, Zeng Z, Stadler ZK, Zhang L, Ouansafi I, Al-Amadie HA, Sempous C, Saltz LB, Soslow RA, O'Reilly EM, Paty PD, Coit DG, Shia J, Klimstra DS. Unusual DNA mismatch repair-deficient tumors in Lynch syndrome: a report of new cases and review of the literature. Hum Pathol. 2012 Apr 17.

Zhang L, Chen L, Bacares R, Ruggeri JM, Somar J, Kemel Y, Stadler ZK, Offit K. BRCA1 R71K missense mutation contributes to cancer predisposition by increasing alternative transcript levels. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2011, Dec; 130(3): 1051-6

Shah M, Salo-Mullen E, Stadler Z, Ruggeri J, Mirander M, Pristyazhnyuk Y, Zhang L. De novo CDH1 mutation in a family presenting with early-onset diffuse gastric cancer. Clinical Genetics Jun 11, 2011;

Stadler ZK, Salo-Mullen E, Sabbaghian N, Simon JA, Zhang L, Olson SH, Kurtz R, Offit K, Foulkes WD, Robson ME, Tischkowitz M. Germline PALB2 mutation analysis in breast-pancreas cancer families. J Med Genet 2011.

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Zhang L, Fleischut M, Kohut K, Spencer S, Wong K, Stadler Z, Kauff N, Offit K, Robson M.. Assessment of the prevalence of de novo mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Clinical Genetics Jul 2011; 80(1) :97-8

Zhang L, Altuwaijri S, Deng F, Chen L, Lal P, Korets R, Wenske S, Lilja HG, Chang C, Scher HI, Gerald WL NF-kappaB regulates androgen receptor expression and prostate cancer growth. American Journal of Pathology. 2009 Aug;175(2):489-99

Zhang L, Kirchhoff T, Yee CJ, Offit K A Rapid and Reliable Test for BRCA1 and BRCA2 Founder Mutation Analysis in Paraffin Tissue Using Pyrosequencing Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. 2009 May;11(3):176-81.

Zhang L, Bacares R, Boyar S, Nafa K, Offit K. cDNA Analysis Demonstrates that the BRCA2 Intronic Variant IVS4-12del5 is a Deleterious Mutation. Mutation Research-Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis. 2009 Apr 26;663(1-2):84-9

Zhang L. Immunohistochemistry versus Microsatellite Instability Testing for Screening Colorectal Cancer Patients at Risk for Hereditary Nonpolyposis Colorectal Cancer Syndrome: Part II. The Utility of Microsatellite Instability Testing. Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. 2008, 10(4):301-7

Doane A, Danso M, Lal P, Donaton M, Zhang L, Hudis C, Gerald WL An estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer subset characterized by a hormonally regulated transcriptional program and response to androgen. Oncogene. 2006, 25:3994-4008

Gao S, Lee P, Wang H, Gerald WL, Adler M, Zhang L, Wang YF, and Wang Z. The androgen receptor directly targets the c-FLIP gene to promote the androgen-independent growth of prostate cancer cells. Molecular Endocrinology. 2005, 19: 1792-1802

Holzbeierlein J, Lal P, LaTulippe E, Smith A, Satagopan J, Zhang L, Ryan C, Smith S, Scher HI, Scardino P, Reuter V, Gerald WL. Comprehensive gene expression analysis of human prostate carcinoma during hormonal therapy identifies androgen-responsive genes and multiple complimentary mechanisms of therapy resistance. American Journal of Pathology. 2004 164:217-27

Zhang L, Charron M, Wright WW, Chatterjee B, Song CS, Roy AK, Brown TR. Nuclear Factor kappaB Activates Transcription of the Androgen Receptor Gene in Sertoli Cells Isolated from Testes of Adult Rats. Endocrinology. 2004, 145:781-9

Wu X, Ye Y, Zhang L. Graphical Modeling Based Gene Interaction Analysis for Microarray Data. SIGKDD Explorations 2003, 5(2):91-100 (SIGKDD: Special Interest Group on Knowledge Discovery and Datamining; Journal of Association for Computing Machinery)

Topics Recommended by Liying Zhang

Fellowships: Molecular Pathology Fellowship