The Lei Zhang lab focuses on utilizing single-cell omics to unravel the pathogenesis and mechanisms of immunotherapies in cancer and other immune-related diseases, aiming to rationalize the selection of current treatment strategies. More specifically, we use combined single-cell analyses from mouse models and patients to delineate the function of treatment-related immune cell subsets, dissect novel mechanisms of immunotherapies, and explore how pre-cancer turns into cancer. Prof. Lei Zhang has systematically depicted the fundamental properties of single immune cells in colorectal cancer and identified specific lymphoid and myeloid subsets related to immunotherapies. She has also co-developed a novel analysis framework to track the dynamic relationships of T cells in human tissues.

Dr. Lei Zhang is a Junior Principal Investigator at Shenzhen Bay Laboratory and Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School. She got her Ph.D. from the Institute of Molecular Medicine at Peking University and completed postdoctoral training at Peking University BIOPIC. Dr. Lei Zhang’s research focuses on single-cell analyses of the tumor microenvironment and the development of next-generation immunotherapeutic strategies. Her recent work includes delineating the dynamic relationships of T cells in colorectal cancer (Nature, 2018), uncovering the mechanisms underlying myeloid-targeted immunotherapies (Cell, 2020), and mapping the cellular architecture of inflammatory bowel disease (Nat Comput Sci, 2023). These works have been awarded as "Top 10 Bioinformatics Advances in China of 2018", "Best of Cell 2020", and the "First Prize of Beijing Science and Technology." Dr. Lei Zhang is supported by the National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars, National Key Research and Development Program of China, and Shenzhen Science and Technology Program.

Lei Zhang#; Xin Yu#; Liangtao Zheng#; Yuanyuan Zhang#; Yansen Li; Qiao Fang; Ranran Gao; Boxi Kang; Qiming Zhang; Julie Y. Huang; Hiroyasu Konno; Xinyi Guo; Yingjiang Ye; Songyuan Gao; Shan Wang; Xueda Hu; Xianwen Ren; Zhanlong Shen*; Wenjun Ouyang*; Zemin Zhang*; Lineage tracking reveals dynamic relationships of T cells in colorectal cancer. Nature, 2018, 564(7735): 268-272.  

Lei Zhang; Zemin Zhang*; Recharacterizing tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes by single-cell RNA sequencing. Cancer Immunology Research, 2019, 7(7): 1040-1046.    

Lei Zhang#; Ziyi Li#; Katarzyna M. Skrzypczynska#; Qiao Fang; Wei Zhang; Sarah A. O'Brien; Yao He; Lynn Wang; Qiming Zhang; Aeryon Kim; Ranran Gao; Jessica Orf; Tao Wang; Deepali Sawant; Jiajinlong Kang; Dev Bhatt; Daniel Lu; Chi-Ming Li; Aaron S. Rapaport; Kristy Perez; Yingjiang Ye; Shan Wang; Xueda Hu; Xianwen Ren; Wenjun Ouyang; Zhanlong Shen*; Jackson G. Egen*; Zemin Zhang*; Xin Yu*; Single-cell analyses inform mechanisms of myeloid-targeted therapies in colon cancer. Cell, 2020, 181(2): 442-459.   

Xianwen Ren#; Lei Zhang#; Yuanyuan Zhang; Ziyi Li; Nathan Siemers; Zemin Zhang*; Insights gained from single-cell analysis of immune cells in the tumor microenvironment. Annual Review of Immunology, 2021, 39: 583-609.

Hu Nie; Peilu Lin; Yu Zhang; Yihong Wan; Jiesheng Li; Chengqian Yin; Lei Zhang*; Single-cell meta-analysis of inflammatory bowel disease with scIBD. Nature Computational Science, 2023, 3: 522–531.