Xiaoli Zhang

Research

Zhang Research Team

The Zhang Team is committed to advancing precision medicine and healthcare through computational innovation, aiming to improve treatment outcomes for patients with cancer, infectious diseases, and Alzheimer’s disease.

We Are Hiring 

If you would like to join our team, send a cover letter outlining experience and research interests as well as a CV/resume to Dr. Zhang at xiaoli18@usf.edu. 

Xiaoli Zhang, PhD, MS -- Principal Investigator

Dr. Zhang is a Professor and Director of the Biostatistics Core at USF Health College of Nursing, as well as an Affiliate Professor in the College of Public Health. Prior to joining USF in October 2024, she was a faculty member in the Department of Biomedical Informatics/Center for Biostatistics at The Ohio State University.

Dr. Zhang has over 20 years of experience integrating molecular biology, biostatistics, bioinformatics, and machine learning to address biomedical and clinical health outcome challenges. With her multidisciplinary expertise, she has collaborated extensively with researchers across biomedical, clinical, and health sciences on grant submissions, experimental design, and data analysis. Her work has led to continuous funding on more than 70 federal grants, including P01s, SPOREs, R01s, R21s, R37s, U01s, and DOD awards.

Dr. Zhang’s research focuses on uncovering the mechanisms driving disease initiation, progression, and drug resistance in cancer, infectious diseases, Alzheimer’s, and other conditions while exploring potential treatment strategies. She specializes in leveraging multi-omics data — including genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics—integrated with patient health and clinical information, such as electronic health records, to identify biomarkers for diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic applications, primarily in cancer and Alzheimer’s but also in other diseases.

P01AI175399 (MPI: Amer/Cormet-Boyaka/Li, OSU)
04/10/2024 - 03/31/2029
NIAID
Title: Role of the non-canonical Inflammasome in SARS-CoV-2-mediated pathology and coagulopathy. Major Goals: This work is expected to broadly impact the development of vaccines and novel therapeutic strategies for a wide range of diseases in which pore-forming toxins are employed by pathogens.
Role: PI and director for the Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Core

R01CA208353 (PI: Freud, OSU)
05/01/2023 - 04/30/2028
NIH/NCI
Title: Elucidation of Human Natural Killer Cell Development
Major Goals: Aim 1. To define NK cell and ILC1 developmental pathways in human tissues. Aim 2. To determine how NK cell development and function are shaped by human endometrial cancer.
Role: Co-I/Site PI

R01AG082113 (PI: Amer, OSU)
04/01/2023-03/31/2028
NIH/NIAID
Title: Targeting specific MicroRNA to alleviate Alzheimer’s Disease pathobiology
Major Goals: To examine how specific small non-coding RNAs (miRNA) alter expression of key proteins that participate in autophagy process and we will test whether reducing the expression of a specific miRNA can correct autophagy, restore degradation of Aβ, and reduce AD pathobiology.
Role: Co-I/Site PI

R01CA266682 (PI: Alinari, OSU)
04/01/2022-03/31/2027
NIH/NCI
Title: Targeting c-Myc stability in c-Myc overexpressing large B-cell lymphoma.
Major Goals: To better understand the TBL1-modulated mechanism through which c-Myc turnover is regulated, to develop a novel therapeutic strategy (tegavivint) to treat this incurable disease, and to begin to characterize resistance mechanisms to tegavivint.
Role: Co-I/Site PI

R01AI159452 (PI: Dr. Amer, OSU)
06/11/2021- 5/31/2026
NIH/NIAID
Title: The role of the non-canonical inflammasome in innate immunity
Major Goals: This proposal will investigate the molecular mechanisms leading to caspase-11-mediated clearing of Legionella infection.
Role: Co-I/Site PI

R01AI157205 (PI: Dr. Seveau, OSU)
06/11/2021 - 05/31/2026
NIH/NIAID
Title: Host responses to the pore-forming toxin Listeriolysin O
Major Goals: This work is expected to broadly impact the development of vaccines and novel therapeutic strategies for a wide range of diseases in which pore-forming toxins are employed by pathogens.
Role: Co-I/Site PI
*Corresponding or senior author

Kim, D., Allen, C. A., Chung, D., Meng, L., Zhang, X., Zhang, W., Ouyang, Y., Li, Z., & Hong, F. (2025). A Novel TLR4 Accessory Molecule Drives Hepatic Oncogenesis through Tumor-Associated Macrophages. Cancer Lett, 217543. PMID: 39929433.

Brown-Burke, F., Saadey, R., Mao, H. C. C., Marra, P., Brooks, E., Wandtke, A., Hout, I., Leon, S., Sharma, A., Yasin, A., Cash, T., Ahmed, E. H., Baiocchi, E. J., Finoti, S. S., Zhang, X., Bhagwat, N., Vaddi, K., Scherle, P., Mozhenkova, A.,…Shindiapina, P. (2025). PRMT5 Inhibition Reduces Hyperinflammation in a Murine Model of Secondary Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). Blood Adv. https://doi.org/10.1182/bloodadvances.2024013651. PMID: 39825858.

Majumder, S., Mishra, S., Shinde, N., Cuitino, M. C., Bauer, M., Ahirwar, D., Basree, M. M., Bharti, V., Ormiston, K., Mawalkar, R., Alsammerai, S., Sarathy, G., Vilgelm, A. E., Zhang, X., Ganju, R. K., & Ramaswamy, B. (2025). Divergent paths of mammary gland involution: unveiling the cellular dynamics in abruptly and gradually involuted mouse models. Breast Cancer Res, 27(1), 1. doi: 10.1186/s13058-024-01933-3. PMID: 39754221.

*Zhang, X., #Huang, Y., #Yang, Y., Wang, Q. E., & Li, L. (2024). Advancements in prospective single-cell lineage barcoding and their applications in research. Genome Res. https://doi.org/10.1101/gr.278944.124

Singh, D., Qiu, Z., Jonathan, S. M., Fa, P., Thomas, H., Prasad, C. B., Cai, S., Wang, J. J., Yan, C., Zhang, X., Venere, M., Li, Z., Sizemore, S. T., Wang, Q. E., & Zhang, J. (2024). PP2A B55alpha inhibits epithelial-mesenchymal transition via regulation of Slug expression in non-small cell lung cancer. Cancer Lett, 598, 217110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.canlet.2024.217110

Prislusky, M. I., Lam, J. G. T., Contreras, V. R., Ng, M., Chamberlain, M., Pathak-Sharma, S., Fields, M., Zhang, X., Amer, A. O., & Seveau, S. (2024). The septin cytoskeleton is required for plasma membrane repair. EMBO Rep, 25(9), 3870-3895. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44319-024-00195-6

#Kuang, Z., Miao, J., & *Zhang, X. (2024). Serum albumin and derived neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio are potential predictive biomarkers for immune checkpoint inhibitors in small cell lung cancer. Front Immunol, 15, 1327449. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2024.1327449

Prasad, C. B., Oo, A., Liu, Y., Qiu, Z., Zhong, Y., Li, N., Singh, D., Xin, X., Cho, Y. J., Li, Z., Zhang, X., Yan, C., Zheng, Q., Wang, Q. E., Guo, D., Kim, B., & Zhang, J. (2024). The thioredoxin system determines CHK1 inhibitor sensitivity via redox-mediated regulation of ribonucleotide reductase activity. Nat Commun, 15(1), 4667. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-48076-9

Denlinger, N., Song, N. J., Zhang, X., Jeon, H., Peterson, C., Wang, Y., Reynolds, K., Bolz, R. M., Miao, J., Song, C., Wu, D., Chan, W. K., Bezerra, E., Epperla, N., Voorhees, T. J., Brammer, J., Kittai, A. S., Bond, D. A., Sawalha, Y.,…Yang, Y. (2024). Postinfusion PD-1+ CD8+ CAR T cells identify patients responsive to CD19 CAR T-cell therapy in non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Blood Adv, 8(12), 3140-3153. https://doi.org/10.1182/bloodadvances.2023012073

Liu, Z., Liao, Y., Hwang, C. L., Rethorst, C. D., & *Zhang, X. (2024). Associations of online health information seeking with health behaviors of cancer survivors. Digit Health, 10, 20552076241238074. https://doi.org/10.1177/20552076241238074
Xiaoli Zhang, PhD, MS
Professor
Director, Biostatistics Core
USF Health College of Nursing
12901 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., MDC 22 | Tampa, FL | 33612
O: 813-905-1067
xiaoli18@usf.edu