Chen Zhang
Ran the liver-specific Tsc1-knockout mouse study showing that non-canonical mTORC1–TFEB activation drives hepatocyte plasticity and aggressive liver cancer
PhD candidate · Wen-Xing Ding Lab – University of Kansas Medical Center
Ding Lab, Dept. of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutics, University of Kansas Medical Center (Kansas City, Kansas, USA) ↗ Lab lineagetrained under Wen-Xing Ding →
Chen Zhang is a PhD candidate in Wen-Xing Ding's laboratory at the University of Kansas Medical Center, studying alcohol-related liver disease, fatty liver disease and liver cancer. As first author on the 2026 J Clin Invest paper, Zhang showed that knocking out TSC1 in mouse hepatocytes paradoxically drives TFEB (the lysosomal/autophagy master regulator) into the nucleus despite hyperactive mTORC1 — a 'non-canonical' activation that pushes hepatocytes toward a more plastic, biliary-like state and ultimately high-grade hepatocellular carcinoma.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | A | Non-canonical mTORC1-TFEB activation promotes hepatocyte plasticity and high-grade malignancy in hepatocellular carcinoma. ZHANG2026 First author; led the Tsc1-knockout mouse studies showing non-canonical mTORC1-TFEB activation drives hepatocyte plasticity and high-grade malignancy in HCC. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 2
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Chen Zhang.
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- Andrea Ballabio Discovered that the transcription factor TFEB is a master switch for building lysosomes (SAR2009) and for autophagy. His lab was one of the groups that showed in 2012 that mTORC1 keeps TFEB out of the nucleus from the lysosome surface, and later (2020) that constitutive TFEB activation drives the kidney disease of Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome
- Wen-Xing Ding Studies autophagy and mitophagy in liver injury and the roles of Nrf2 and mTOR in liver disease and cancer
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