Dr. Daohong Zhou is a professor in the Department of Biochemistry & Structural Biology and a Joe R. and Terry Lozano Long Distinguished Chair of Developmental Therapeutics at the Long School of Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSA). Dr. Zhou also serves as the Co-director of the CPRIT-supported Center of Innovative Drug Discovery (CIDD) and as the Associate Director for Drug Development at the Mays Cancer Center (MCC).
Dr. Zhou received his medical (1978-1983) and graduate (1983-1986) training from Yunyany Medical College of Tongji Medical University and Henan Medical University, respectively; and his postdoctoral training (1990-1992) at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Before he joined UTHSA in 2022, he was a professor of Pharmacodynamics and Radiation Oncology at University of Florida (UF). He also served as the Associate Director for Translation and Drug Development and the Henry E. Innes Professorship of Cancer Research at the UF Health Cancer Center.
Dr. Zhou has published more than 160 peer reviewed scientific articles and book chapters. His research has led to the discovery of the first potent and broad-spectrum senolytic agent, ABT263 (a dual Bcl-2 and Bcl-xl inhibitor), that can selectively kill senescent cells. This discovery may lead to new therapeutics for various age-related diseases. More recently, he developed several proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) that can target Bcl-xl and other proteins of interest for degradation. Dr. Zhou’s efforts in the development of promising senolytics and cancer therapeutics has led to the FDA approval of DT2216, a Bcl-xl PROTAC, in phase I studies, and the founding of two biotechnology companies, Unity Biotechnology (https://unitybiotechnology.com/) and Dialectic Therapeutics (https://www.dtsciences.com/). Using the PROTAC drug development platform, he is developing additional specific antitumor and better senolytic agents.
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