Daohong Zhou, MD

Dr. Daohong Zhou is a tenured professor in Department of Biochemistry & Structural Biology and a Joe R. and Terry Lozano Long Distinguished Chair of Developmental Therapeutics at the Long School of Medicine. Dr. Zhou also serves as the Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI)- and Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT)-funded Center of Innovative Drug Discovery (CIDD) and as the Associate Director for Drug Development at the NCI-designated Mays Cancer Center (MCC). Prior to joining UTHSA, he was a Professor in the Department of Pharmacodynamics at the College of Pharmacy and a Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the College of Medicine, University of Florida (UF) at Gainesville and served as the Associate Director for Translation and Drug Development and the Henry E. Innes Endowed Professor of Cancer Research at the UF Health Cancer Center.

His research has led to a better understanding of the role of cellular senescence in ionizing radiation (IR) and chemotherapy induced normal tissue damage (such as bone marrow suppression and pulmonary fibrosis) and the discovery of the first potent and broad-spectrum senolytic agent, ABT263 (a dual Bcl-2 and Bcl-xl inhibitor), that can selectively kill senescent cells. This discovery may lead to new therapeutics for various age-related diseases and the side effects induced by chemotherapy and IR. More recently, he developed several proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) that can target Bcl-xl and other proteins of interest for degradation via the ubiquitination and proteasome system. He found that Bcl-xl PROTACs can selectively induce Bcl-xl degradation in senescent cells and various cancer cells but not in platelets, suggesting that Bcl-xl PROTACs have the potential to be developed as a better senolytic and anticancer agent than ABT263 by not causing thrombocytopenia. Importantly, Dr. Zhou’s efforts in the development of promising senolytics and cancer therapeutics has led to the FDA approval of DT2216, a Bcl-xl PROTAC, in phase I studies, and the founding of two biotechnology companies, Unity Biotechnology, which is publicly traded (UBX on NASDAQ, https://unitybiotechnology.com/) and Dialectic Therapeutics (https://www.dtsciences.com/), a Texas-based company that has received two CPRIT Awards for Product Development. Using the PROTAC drug development platform, he is developing additional specific antitumor and better senolytic agents.

Dr. Zhou has published more than 160 peer reviewed scientific articles and book chapters. His research has been well supported by grants from various private and government funding agencies, including NCI. Dr. Zhou serves on several national and international peer review panels and as a reviewer for various scientific publications. He was a regular member of the Radiation Therapeutics and Biology Study Section at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and a Councilor of the Radiation Research Society (http://www.radres.org).