Kevin zhang, M.D, Ph.d.
Associate Professor, Department of Radio Oncology | University of Nebraska Medical Center
Chi (Kevin) Zhang, MD, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology of the UNMC College of Medicine. He has been an attending physician and research scientist in radiation oncology since 2015 after completing his medical degree and PhD training. He provides clinical care through UNMC’s primary clinical partner, Nebraska Medicine. His clinical practice is focused on primary and metastatic central nervous system tumors in the brain and spine, as well as on lung cancer.
He provides 3D and intensity modulated radiation therapy for central nervous system malignancies including glioblastoma, anaplastic astrocytoma/oligodendroglioma, low grade glioma, ependymoma, adult medulloblastoma, brain/spine metastasis, and benign central nervous system tumors including meningioma, schwannoma, pituitary adenoma, hemangioblastoma, hemangiopericytoma, craniopharyngioma, paragangliomas at base of skull or glomus jugulare, etc.
Dr. Zhang provides radiation therapy with IMRT and stereotactic body radiation therapy techniques for lung cancer at early stages, and stereotactic radiosurgery for selected brain and spine tumors, trigeminal neuralgia and arteriovenous malformation using frameless or frame-based approaches.
Research Grants
2022-2025
Preclinical studies on pediatric high-grade glioma with a nanoformulation of metformin (P4-MET) as a radiosensitizer.
$330,150
Update from Dr. Zhang | March 2024 | We have performed RNAseq study on the total mRNA extracted from PKC cells treated with free metformin or P4-MET at the concentrations of their IC50 determined on cell proliferation assays as previously conducted (the IC50 of P4-MET based on the metformin molar concentration is about 1/50 of the IC50 of free metformin) at various time points. PKC cells are the pediatric primary high grade glioma cell line, a gift from Dr. Oren Becher at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. We have compared the genes as proposed in Experiment 3B including those as cancer stem cell markers, metabolic genes as well as genes involved in cell proliferation/cycling. Our preliminary results showed very similar results in the responses of gene expression levels between the groups after free metformin or P4-MET treatment, even with only 1/50 of the equivalent metformin molar concentration of P4-MET relativelyw to that of the free metformin used for the comparison. The results were very interesting indicating that P4-MET did work through the active component, i.e., metformin, to achieve the cellular response but in a much more potent way that free metformin. We are now conducting SeaHorse Metabolic Assays to compare the key cellular functions such as mitochondrial respiration and glycolysis. Western blotting assays are being conducted to confirm the RT-PCR results.
We have attempted to implant the cultured the pediatric primary cell line, PKC, for establishing the proposed orthotopic syngeneic pediatric high grade glioma model at our institution. However, we ran into some technical challenges with unsuccessful attempts to induce the tumor sphere formation by culturing cells in the ultralow attachment plates. We are now exploring various culturing conditions and consulting Dr. Becher’s team for their experience. We have requested and received a new batch of cells from their lab and are culturing the cells in “semi-attached” growth method as suggested and plan to proceed to intracranial implantation soon based on the approval animal protocol by our IACUC after submitting the animal protocol and with extensive review and revision accordingly.