Xiaolin Zi, Ph.D & M.Sc.

• Name : Xiaolin Zi, Ph.D & M.Sc.
• Title : Professor
• Specialty : Bladder, Prostate and Kidney Cancers

Professional Biography

Xiaolin Zi obtained his M.Sc. degree in Biostatistics from McGill University, Canada and Ph.D. degree in Epidemiology from Shanghai Medical University, China. In 1996, Dr. Zi came to the United States to pursue post-doctoral training at Case Western University, Cleveland, OH and studied receptor tyrosine kinases-mediated cell cycle regulation and apoptotic pathways by novel cancer preventive agents. In 2002, Dr. Zi joined the Department of Urology at University of California, Irvine (UCI) as an Assistant Professional Researcher to start his own lab. In 2008, he was promoted to a Tenured Associate Professor of Urology at UCI. Dr. Zi holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Pharmacology, and is the Director of Urological Research at UCI. Dr. Zi has served on various national and international grant review panels and on Editorial Boards of various scientific journals, including PLOS ONE, Bladder, and American Journal of Clinical and Experimental Urology. He has served as a reviewer for more than 50 scientific journals. His research has been funded by NIH, DOD and AICR funding agencies. The two major areas of his research in urological cancers are naturally-occurring bioactive compounds and Wnt signaling with an emphasis on epithelial to mesenchymal transition. He combined his knowledge in population science with laboratory skills in basic science and identified flavokawain A as a novel apoptosis inducer from the KAVA plant for cancer prevention. His NIH funded research discovered that lycopene supplementation can enhance anti-tumor efficacy of docetaxel in a prostate cancer mouse xenograft model. In collaboration with Dr. Michael B. Lilly, Professor, Medical oncologist, and Associate Director for Translational Research at MUSC's Hollings Cancer Center, the study on lycopene and docetaxel combination in treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer is also now in a NCI funded Phase I clinical trial. He also reported that secreted Wnt antagonists Frzb and WIF1 act as tumor suppressors to inhibit epithelial to mesenchymal transition and tumor metastasis. He is now developing Wnt antagonists and Bevacizumab, a humanized anti-VEGF antibody, combination therapy for treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer. His lab has established several lines of patient-derived xenograft prostate cancer models and human prostate stromal cell lines.

• Graduate: McGill University, Montreal, Canada
• Doctorate: Shanghai Medical University, P.R. China
• Postdoctoral Training: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
  McGill University, Montreal, Canada

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