Luoping Zhang, PhD, MS
- D Leader and Project 4 Co-Leader, UC Berkeley Superfund Research Program Training Core
- 2019-2020 Fulbright Fellow to Italy, Spring 2020
Biography
Dr. Luoping Zhang is an Adjunct Professor of Toxicology at the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley where she has been employed since 1992. For the past 25+ years, Dr. Zhang’s research has focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms of bone marrow toxicity caused by benzene and other toxic chemicals, including butadiene, formaldehyde, tricholoroethylene and arsenic. Her team’s investigations have mainly involved the detection of biomarkers associated with these chemical exposures in molecular epidemiological studies. Her lab investigates specific chromosomal aneuploidies and rearrangements in many of these studies, as well as in mature and progenitor human cells by a molecular cytogenetic method named FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization). To identify additional novel biomarkers and disease-related mechanisms associated with these chemical exposures, she has developed and continues to employ many high-throughput technologies, such as single-cell genetic analysis (SCGA), advanced omic-based methodologies, next-generation sequencing (NGS), RNAi (RNA interference), and, most recently, CRISPR.
Besides her long-term involvement and contributions to the Northern California Childhood Leukemia Study (NCCLS) and the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Childhood Leukemia and the Environment (CIRCLE), Dr. Zhang has also been a co-project leader and/or co-principal investigator in the Superfund Research Program (SRP), and the Center for Exposure Biology (CEB) at Berkeley. Dr. Zhang has been appointed by former California Governor Brown as a member of Carcinogen Identification Committee since 2012. She has also served as a member on various committees for the Institute of Medicine at the National Academies, the US EPA and IARC. Most recently, Dr. Zhang has also been awarded as a 2019-2020 Fulbright Fellow and will be a guest lecturer at the University of Udine, Italy in Spring 2020.
Research Interests
- Association of chemical exposures and increased risk of cancers (leukemia, lymphoma, etc.), and other types of chronic disease in molecular epidemiological studies
- Mechanisms of chemically induced toxicities, such as bone marrow toxicity, stem cell toxicity, and genotoxicity caused by benzene, formaldehyde, and other toxicants
- Application of omic-based genomic and epigenomic technologies to discover new biomarkers
- Application of innovative CRISPR and RNAi as a functional genomic screening
- Environmental pollution and health effects in China
Education
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PhD – Biochemical Toxicology
Simon Fraser University, 1993 -
MS – Biochemistry
Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1985 -
BS – Physical Chemistry
Wuhan University, 1982
Publications
Courses Taught
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- PH 220C
- Health Risk Assessment
- PH 270C
- Practical Toxicology
Additional Links
- A member of the US Society of Toxicology (SOT).
- A long-time member of Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society (EMGS).
- A long-time member of Genetic and Environmental Toxicology Association (GETA) of Northern California.
- A member of Northern California Society of Toxicology (NorCal SOT)
- A vivid dancer in the Berkeley Folk Dancers (BFD) group.