Bo Zhang

About

Bo Zhang is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences at Northwestern University. He received his PhD in Geography from the University of Connecticut in 2021, with a background in environmental science and GIS. His research interests center on applying geospatial technologies to study physical environment change, with a focus on the development and application of Markov chain geostatistics. His previous work has investigated spatiotemporal patterns of aerosol particles, transit accessibility, and transportation network analysis. Bo Zhang has also worked as a GIS analyst for a project assessing service equity in Connecticut's large public transportation systems. He is involved in teaching courses such as First Year Seminar, Data Analysis for Earth & Environmental Sciences, Scientific Programming in Python, and GIS Level 1 and 2.

Research topics

• Biology
• Cancer research
• Medicine
• Internal medicine
• Immunology
• Genetics
• Bioinformatics
• Computational biology
• Cell biology

Selected publications

• T Cell Dysfunction and Exhaustion in Cancer

  Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology · 2020 · 379 citations

  Tumor immunotherapy is a promising therapeutic strategy for patients with advanced cancers. T cells are key mediators of antitumor function that specifically recognize and react to tumor-expressing antigens and have proven critical for cancer immunotherapy. However, T cells are not as effective against cancer as expected. This is partly because T cells enter a dysfunctional or exhausted state, which is characterized by sustained expression of inhibitory receptors and a transcriptional state dist…

  DOI

• CRISPR screen in regulatory T cells reveals modulators of Foxp3

  Nature · 2020 · 233 citations

  DOI

• Immunosuppressive IDO in Cancer: Mechanisms of Action, Animal Models, and Targeting Strategies

  Frontiers in Immunology · 2020 · 222 citations

  study of IDO, we also review current transgenic animal modeling systems while highlighting three new constructs recently created by our group. This work converges on the central premise that maximal immunotherapeutic efficacy in subjects with advanced cancer requires both IDO enzyme- and non-enzyme-neutralization, which is not adequately addressed by available IDO-targeting pharmacologic approaches at this time.

  DOI

• SATB1 is a key regulator of quiescence in stem-like CD8+ T cells

  Nature Immunology · 2025-08-22 · 12 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• MGAT1-Guided complex N-Glycans on CD73 regulate immune evasion in triple-negative breast cancer

  Nature Communications · 2025-04-14 · 9 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Despite the widespread application of immunotherapy, treating immune-cold tumors remains a significant challenge in cancer therapy. Using multiomic spatial analyses and experimental validation, we identify MGAT1, a glycosyltransferase, as a pivotal factor governing tumor immune response. Overexpression of MGAT1 leads to immune evasion due to aberrant elevation of CD73 membrane translocation, which suppresses CD8 + T cell function, especially in immune-cold triple-negative breast cancer…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• WEE1 inhibition and tumor immunity

  NIH · $2.2M · 2018–2024

• A deubiquitination module controls Treg adaptation to tumor microenvironment

  NIH · $2.8M · 2021–2026

• NIH Grant R01CA149669

  NIH · $1.7M · 2016

Frequent coauthors

• Yi Zhang

  Shanghai Changzheng Hospital

  152 shared

• Siqi Chen

  Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital

  93 shared

• Jie Fan

  62 shared

• Dongli Yue

  First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University

  53 shared

• Donye Dominguez

  52 shared

• Xinfeng Chen

  47 shared

• Lei Qin

  45 shared

• Tyler J. Curiel

  38 shared

Labs

• Bo Zhang LabPI

Similar researchers at Northwestern University

• Suzan van der Leeh-41
• Andrew Jacobsonh-34
• Daniel E. Hortonh-31