Professor of Oncology and Member
Department of Cancer Prevention and Control
Roswell Park Cancer Institute

Senior Member
Department of Cancer Pathology and Prevention
Roswell Park Cancer Institute Division
The State University of New York Graduate College

Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Basic Science 711
Elm and Carlton Streets
Buffalo, NY 14263
Tel: (716) 845-3097
Fax: (716) 845-1144
E-mail: yuesheng.zhang@roswellpark.org

Dr. Zhang joined the faculty of Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) in the summer of 2003 as an Assistant Professor (Assistant Member). He was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor (Associate Member) later that year, and was then promoted to the rank of Professor (Member) in 2007. He Came to RPCI from the University of Arizona, Arizona Cancer Center, where he served as an Assistant Professor. He earned his M.D. in 1984 and M.S. in 1988 from Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China and his PhD in Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences in 1996 from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, where he also completed postdoctoral fellowship and served as a junior faculty member.

Dr. Zhang is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research and is a member of the editorial boards of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics and Molecular Nutrition and Food Research. Dr. Zhang is also an honorary professor at the Department of Neurology, the Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China.

Dr. Zhang’s current research interests include cancer chemopreventive mechanisms of isothiocyanates and dithiolethiones, bladder cancer chemoprevention, mechanism of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and ALS chemoprevention. Dr. Zhang has authored or co-authored over 80 journal articles, book chapters and abstracts. 

Representative publications:

• Zhang Y, Talalay P, Cho C-G, Posner GH. A Major inducer of anticarcinogenic protective enzymes from broccoli: isolation and elucidation of structure. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 89, 2399-2403, 1992.
• Zhang Y, Cho C-G, Posner GH, Talalay P. Spectroscopic quantitation of organic isothiocyanates by cyclocondensation with vicinal dithiols. Anal Biochem 205, 100-107, 1992.
• Prestera T, Holtzclaw WD, Zhang Y, Talalay P. Chemical and molecular regulation of enzymes that detoxify carcinogens. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 90, 2965-2969, 1993.
• Zhang Y, Kensler TW, Cho C-G, Posner GH, Talalay P. Anticarcinogenic activities of sulforaphane and structurally related synthetic norbornyl isothiocyanates. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 91, 3147-3150, 1994.
• Kolm RH, Danielson UH, Zhang Y, Talalay P, Mannervik B. Isothiocyanates as substrates for human glutathione transferases: structure-activity studies. Biochem J 311, 453-459, 1995.
• Zhang Y, Wade KL, Prestera T, Talalay P. Quantitative determination of isothiocyanates, dithiocarbamates, carbon disulfide, and related thiol carbonyl compounds by cyclocondensation with 1,2-benzenedithiol. Anal Biochem 239, 160-167, 1996.
• Fahey JW, Zhang Y, Talalay P. Broccoli sprouts: an exceptionally rich source of inducers of enzymes that protect against chemical carcinogens. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 94, 10367-10372, 1997.
• Zhang Y, Talalay P. Mechanism of differential potencies of isothiocyanates as inducers of anticarcinogenic phase 2 enzymes. Cancer Res 58, 4632-4639, 1998.
• Zhang Y. Role of glutathione in the accumulation of anticarcinogenic isothiocyanates and their glutathione conjugates by murine hepatoma cells. Carcinogenesis 21, 1175-1182, 2000.
• Zhang Y. Molecular mechanism of rapid cellular accumulation of anticarcinogenic isothiocyanates. Carcinogenesis 22, 425-431, 2001.
• Zhang Y, Callaway EC. High cellular accumulation of sulforaphane, a dietary anticarcinogen, is followed by rapid transporter-mediated export as glutathione conjugate. Biochem J 364, 301-307, 2002.
• Tang L, Zhang Y. Dietary isothiocyanates inhibit the growth of human bladder carcinoma cells. J Nutr 134, 2004-2010, 2004.
• Tang L, Zhang Y. Mitochondria are the primary target in isothiocyanate-induced apoptosis in human bladder cancer cells. Mol Cancer Ther 4, 1250-1259, 2005.
• Tang L, Zhang Y, Jobson HE, Li J, Stephenson KK, Wade KL, Fahey JW. Potent activation of mitochondria-mediated apoptosis and arrest in S and M phases of cancer cells by a broccoli sprout extract. Mol Cancer Ther 5, 935-944, 2006.
• Li C-Y, Liu X-Y, Bu H, Li Z, Li B, Sun M-M, Guo Y-S, Liu Y-L, Zhang Y. Prevention of glutamate excitotoxicity in motor neurons by 5,6-dihydrocyclopenta-1,2-dithiole-3-thione: implication to the development of neuroprotective drugs. Cell Mol Life Sci 64, 1861-1869, 2007.
• Munday R, Mhawech-Fauceglia P, Munday CM, Paonessa JD, Tang L, Munday JS, Lister C, Wilson P, Fahey JW, Davis W, Zhang Y. Inhibition of urinary bladder carcinogenesis by broccoli sprouts. Cancer Res 68, 1593-1600, 2008.