Yulai Zhou

Dr. Yulai Zhou received his M.D./Ph.D. in Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, with a research focus on cancer biomarkers and the molecular mechanisms underlying tumor progression. His doctoral thesis investigated a hypoxia-driven circular RNA network that modulates mTOR/Myc signaling and contributes to rapamycin resistance in colorectal cancer. During his graduate studies, Dr. Zhou joined the laboratory of Dr. Paolo Casali at UTHSCSA as a visiting student, where he contributed to studies on T cell-independent antibody maturation, the developement of a humanized mouse model capable of mounting mature human antibody responses and the role of transcription factors in memory B cell differentiation. Dr. Zhou joined the lab of Dr. Coraline Mlynarczyk as a postdoc, where he focuses on extracellular signals providing competitive fitness to B cells and driving dissemination of malignant B cells outside of their lymphoid niche.