Zihai Li named director of Ohio State Institute for Immuno-Oncology

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin
Share on email
Share on print

Zihai Li was named director of the Institute for Immuno-Oncology at Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-James Cancer Hospital.

He comes to Ohio State from the Medical University of South Carolina, where he was a professor and chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and co-leader of the Center Immunology Program at Hollings Cancer Center.

Li is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians. His primary interests are in the mechanisms of immune regulation in cancer. Some of his research focuses on immunological properties of heat shock proteins in cancer immunotherapeutics against cancer by reprogramming the tumor microenvironment, including regulatory T cells, thrombocytes, and unfolded protein response. His work is supported by NIH, including a program project grant from NCI and four RO1s.

Table of Contents

YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN

For nearly 25 years, business executive Lou Weisbach and urologist Richard J. Boxer have argued that finding the money to finance the cures for devastating diseases is not as difficult as it appears. To start finding the cures, the U.S. Department of the Treasury needs to issue some bonds—$750 billion worth. Next, you hire CEOs—one...

There is general agreement that the United States spends too much on health care, especially on pharmaceuticals.  But what we spend on drugs is not simply a function of price. If eggs double in price, people can simply cut the number of eggs they eat in half.  Simply stated, cost is the product of (price per unit times the number of units purchased). 
What did President Richard M. Nixon and Senator Edward M. Kennedy have in common? They each played a pivotal role in the passage of the National Cancer Act signed by Nixon on Dec. 23, 1971. The NCA established the National Cancer Program authorizing the initial investment in the NCI-designated Cancer Centers Program. 
When I first proposed targeting PCNA (proliferating cell nuclear antigen) as a therapeutic approach, the response I got was: “No one will ever make a drug against PCNA. It’s undruggable.” The protein lacks enzymatic activity, has a disordered region, and binds to over 200 other proteins within the cell. From a traditional drug development perspective, these characteristics made PCNA an impossible target.

Never miss an issue!

Get alerts for our award-winning coverage in your inbox.

Login