Molecular mechanisms of the MLL4 complex in H3K4 methylation and p53-dependent transcription activation
Molecular Cell
LabNarrative concept · prepared as an independent design proposal
Transcription factors · Cofactors · RNA processing · Therapy resistance
Engineering precision into cancer transcription
The Zhang Laboratory investigates how transcription factors, cofactors, chromatin and RNA-processing systems are co-opted to create cancer-specific gene programmes—and why those programmes persist when therapies target the wrong molecular interface.
Transcriptional cofactor cooperativityBET-inhibitor resistanceRNA modification and glioblastoma stemnessTherapy-induced senescence
DNApromoter
TFfactor
CFcofactor
Pol IItranscription
RNAprocessing
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Regulatory precision emerges from cooperative molecular assemblies.
The regulatory interface is the therapeutic opportunity.
Transcription is not a single switch. It is an assembled system in which DNA-bound factors, cofactors, chromatin regulators, RNA polymerase and RNA-modifying machinery cooperate to determine which genes are expressed, at what strength and in what molecular form. The laboratory resolves these dependencies in breast cancer and glioblastoma to expose vulnerabilities that can be targeted more precisely.
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Explore all programmes ↗Research programmes
Mechanisms with therapeutic consequence.
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Cofactor cooperativity and BET-inhibitor resistance
We define how BRD4, Mediator and elongation machinery sustain oncogenic transcription when bromodomain inhibition fails.
Open programme ↗02Therapy-induced senescence and adaptive transcription
We investigate how tumour cells enter, maintain or escape therapy-induced senescence through transcription-factor and cofactor control.
Open programme ↗03RNA modification in glioblastoma stemness
We study how m6A writing, erasure and recognition shape self-renewal, proliferation and invasive growth in glioblastoma stem-like cells.
Open programme ↗04Signalling–chromatin–transcription circuits in cancer
We trace how extracellular signals are converted through chromatin regulators and transcription factors into durable malignant programmes.
Open programme ↗
Transcription systems · principal investigatorPrincipal investigator
Sicong Zhang, PhD
Assistant Professor
Sicong Zhang studies how transcription factors, cofactors, chromatin and RNA-modifying machinery create cancer-specific gene programmes. His work bridges mechanistic transcription biology with functional genomics and translational strategies for breast cancer and glioblastoma.
Meet the laboratory ↗03
Full publication list ↗Selected work
Recent and defining publications.
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Resistance of estrogen receptor function to BET bromodomain inhibition is mediated by transcriptional coactivator cooperativity
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
EGFR/SRC/ERK-stabilized YTHDF2 promotes cholesterol dysregulation and invasive growth of glioblastoma
Nature Communications
Aberrant Activation of β-Catenin Signaling Drives Glioma Tumorigenesis via USP1-Mediated Stabilization of EZH2
Cancer Research
Join the laboratory