Research Faculty

I first became interested in molecular and cellular biology as an undergraduate at Kalamazoo College, and later, as a graduate student at Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, I decided to devote my career to researching the molecular basis of cancer. This has provided me with the opportunity to study interesting questions that are both fundamental to biology and also of significance to our society. After graduate school, I worked first as a post-doctoral fellow and then as a Research Assistant Professor to determine the role of the interferon-inducible, dsRNA-activated protein kinase PKR in tumorigenesis. In 2016 I had the opportunity to join the Research group of Jonathan Licht, M.D. to study the role of chromatin dynamics in cancer. My projects in the Licht lab include: characterizing how histone mutations that disrupt nucleosome structure may cause changes in gene expression that drive the tumorigenic phenotype, analyzing the mechanism by which an activating mutation of the histone methyltransferase NSD2 dysregulates the chromatin landscape to drive myeloma or ALL and identifying new genetic vulnerabilities in uveal melanoma.

Christopher R. Cogle, M.D. is a practicing oncologist, distinguished scientist, and leader in health policy with focus on cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Dr. Cogle’s clinic is designated a Center of Excellence by the MDS Foundation. Dr. Cogle has been named a Scholar in Clinical Research by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. In 2020, the National Academy of Medicine distinguished Dr. Cogle as an Emerging Leader in Health and Medicine Scholar.

Dr. Heldermon is an associate professor of medicine, board certified medical oncologist with expertise in the treatment of breast cancer. He is a member of the American Society of Hematology and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. His research expertise is in the use of gene replacement and stem cell therapies for the treatment of inherited disorders such as lysosomal storage diseases. He also studies the spread of stem cells from maternal or malignant sources using mouse models.

Dr. Kaye is a professor of medicine, medical director of the thoracic oncology program and director of the lung cancer center within the division of hematology and oncology. He is a clinical and basic science investigator with a focus on thoracic malignancies. Dr. Kay is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society, and serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Licht is the director of the UF Health Cancer Center, holding the Marshall E. Rinker, Sr. Chair.

NCI funded for 30 years, Dr. Licht is also Principal Investigator of a Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) Specialized Center of Research. He is an Associate Editor of Oncogene and serves on the editorial boards of Cancer Discovery, Cancer Cell, Cancer Research and Clinical Cancer Research. Dr. Licht is chair of the Taskforce for Hematological Malignancies of AACR, and is co-chair of the Medical/Scientific Board of the LLS. Dr. Licht has published over 200 articles, reviews and book chapters and has mentored over 40 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and 20 faculty members. In 2021 he was the winner of the American Society of Hematology Basic Sciences Mentor Award.

Zhijian Qian Ph.D. joined Department of Medicine, at the University of Florida in April, 2018. Currently, he is a tenured full Professor. Before that, he had been serving as a tenured Associate Professor of medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago for several years.

Dr. Qian received his Ph.D. degree from Shanghai Institute of Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Science, China, and then conducted postdoc training at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Chicago. He established his independent research laboratory in 2010 in the department of Medicine at University of Illinois at Chicago.

Dr. Qian is a scholar of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (2018) and Research of the year. His research has been supported by multiple RO1 grants from NIH and other private foundations.

Current Research Interests: The long-term goal of Qian laboratory is to understand the mechanisms that underlie the development of blood cancer with a focus on studying the genetic pathways that control the proliferation, survival and self-renewal of normal or leukemic hematopoietic stem cells, and to identify novel therapeutic strategies for treatment of myeloid malignant diseases. Current my lab research interests include 1) understanding molecular regulation of normal hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) and its leukemic transformation, 2) determining the role and mechanisms of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling in the development and maintenance of myeloid neoplasms, 3) understanding transcriptional, epigenetic and epitranscriptome regulation of normal hematopoiesis and leukemogenesis, 4) studying post-translational modifications of RNA m6A methylation regulators in cancer, and 5) developing novel targeted therapies for myeloid malignant diseases and solid tumors including lung and head-neck cancers.

I obtained a Ph.D. in Experimental Medicine from McGill University in Montréal focusing on mechanisms of resistance to histone deacetylase inhibitors in acute myeloid leukemia. In January 2016, I joined the Licht laboratory. I am interested in understanding how loss of the histone demethylase KDM6A promotes tumorigenesis of multiple myeloma (MM). By the development of isogenic cell lines using CRISPR-mediated engineering, and by using a novel mouse model of MM where KDM6A is loss in the B-cell compartment, I am aiming to elucidate how KDM6A enzyme works and how its loss affects chromatin structure and gene expression.

I joined the Licht laboratory in July 2017 after a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, during which I worked on epigenetic effects on myeloid malignancies. My current research is focused on studying NSD2 mutations relevant to pediatric ALL and multiple myeloma. I am working to explore how the NSD2-E1099K mutation affects B cell development and the pathogenesis of ALL. Meanwhile, I am also working on the chemoresistance mechanism with NSD2 mutation in this system. Hopefully, these projects will provide more evidence for improving the clinical therapeutic strategies in ALL with NSD2 mutation.

I earned my Ph.D. from the Chinese Academy of Sciences by studying the biochemical and biophysical mechanisms of photosynthesis. I moved in the United States and studied the protein structure and function as a postdoctoral fellow in Kansas State University. Later I joined Dr. Thomas Yang’s Laboratory in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (UF College of Medicine) and studied the genetic and epigenetic molecular mechanisms of mammalian gene imprinting. To continue my endeavor in the study of the molecular mechanism that control mammalian gene expression, I then joined Dr. Michael S. Kilberg’s Laboratory at UF.

I became a member of the Licht laboratory on Aug. 1, 2020. Now I am studying the potential oncogenic functions of histone mutations.