Bin-zhi Qian

Reader, Principal Investigator, Chancellor’s Fellow & CRUK Career Development Fellow

  • Cancer Research UK Edinburgh Centre
  • MRC Institute of Genetics & Molecular Medicine
  • MRC Centre for Reproductive Health

Contact details

Address

Street

MRC University of Edinburgh Centre for Reproductive Health
Little France complex:
The Queen’s Medical Research Institute
47 Little France Crescent

City
Edinburgh
Post code
EH16 4TJ
Street

Cancer Research UK Edinburgh Centre MRC Institute of Genetics & Molecular Medicine The University of Edinburgh Western General Hospital Crewe Road South

City
Edinburgh
Post code
EH4 2XR

Background

Bin-Zhi Qian received his bachelor degree in biochemistry from Fudan University at Shanghai, China. He then joined Chinese Human Genome Centre at Shanghai (CHGCS) as a research fellow working on gene expression profiling of gastric cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma using patient samples (PNAS 2001, World J Gastroenterol. 2004). In 2002, Bin-Zhi joined the Ph.D. program at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York under the mentorship of Professor Jeffrey Pollard. His research was focusing on the role of macrophages in breast cancer distal metastasis (PLoS One 2009, Cell 2010, Nature 2011). He received his PhD in biomedical sciences in 2009 and stayed for a short postdoctoral training with a prestigious Susan G. Komen for the Cure Postdoctoral Fellowship. He then joined Dr. Charles Sawyers’ group at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York to continue his training to investigate the role of tumour microenvironment in prostate cancer metastasis and drug resistance. In 2014, he was awarded with a prestigious Cancer Research UK Career Development Fellowship and University of Edinburgh Chancellor’s Fellowship to establish his independent research group with a joint appointment at Edinburgh Cancer Research UK Centre & MRC University of Edinburgh Centre for Reproductive Health at University of Edinburgh. His long-term research goal is to understand the mechanism of cancer metastasis and develop effective therapeutic approaches by focusing on the interactions among metastatic tumour cells and associated host cell types.

Current PhD students supervised

Ruoyu Ma   PhD student

Nikki Graham     PhD student

 

Research summary

Metastatic disease, spread of tumour cells from the primary tumour into other organs of the body, remains the number one threat of patients of breast and prostate cancer despite great improvement in early diagnosis and surgical removal. Thus, our long-term research goal is to understand the mechanism of cancer metastasis and develop effective therapeutic approaches. Our specific focus is on interactions between metastatic tumour cells and associated host cell types which has been largely overlooked in the past. To this end, we have developed a series of new in vivo models, novel imaging technologies and in vitro and in vivo function assays. Our objective is to provide novel insights into the disease mechanism and develop novel therapeutic approaches for effective treatment of metastatic disease.

Current research interests

1. Further understand the mechanism of host cells promotion of cancer metastasis with a focus on myeloid cells and mesenchymal stem cells. 2. Develop novel therapeutic strategies against metastatic disease by targeting host-derived factors. 3. Further understand the role of tumour microenvironment in drug resistance. 4. Translate our findings into humanized models and patient-derived samples in collaboration with clinicians.

Current project grants

Cancer Research UK/Career Development Fellowship/2015-2021/£1.5million
European Research Council Starting Grant/2017-2022/€1.5million

View all 32 publications on Research Explorer

We welcome enthusiastic and talented researchers and students to join us. We are also happy to sponsor anyone with a strong track record who would rather apply for his/her own fellowship/scholarship (see below list). We always like to hear from good people.                                                                                    

External Postdoc Fellowships: Newton International Fellowships (open Jan-Mar); Marie Curie Individual Fellowships (Open Apr-Sep); EMBO Fellowships etc.       

PhD studentships are available for both UK/EU and overseas students. The application to these scholarships generally opens between Oct - Dec. You are welcome to contact me if you would like to undertake a PhD study in our group.