Jun Zhong

Jun Zhong

Reserch Fellow @NCI/NIH

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Welcome to my website! I am committed to create a better world with precision cancer risk prediction.
I am a Research Fellow in the Laboratory of Translational Genomics, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, working with Laufey Amundadottir, Ph.D., Senior Investigator. I am interested at:
• Cancer genetic epidemiology   • Computational oncology  • Cancer multi-omics
• Genome/transcriptome-wide association study (GWAS/TWAS) in cross-ancestry populations
• Polygenic risk scores (PRS)  • AI-powered risk prediction   • Driver factors for tumorigenesis.
My research focuses on:
(1) identifying variants associated with cancer risk (especially pancreatic cancer) using multi-omics approaches in cross-ancestry populations;
(2) building cancer risk prediction models for clinical utility;
(3) understanding the biology of germline risk variants using genomic technologies;
(4) identifying driver factors (somatic mutations and beyond) for tumorigenesis.

Employment

  • Research Fellow (Full-time employee), National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, US (2022 - present)
    Research experience including:
    (1) Genome-wide association studies (GWAS).
    (2) Identifying driver factors for cancer.
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, US (2017 - 2022)
    Research experience including:
    (1) Data mining of large multi-omic datasets (International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC), UK Biobank, GTEx, ENCODE, 1KG Genomes Project, gnomAD, et al.)
    (2) Transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) identifies novel candidate susceptibility genes for pancreatic cancer.
    (3) Fine-mapping of chr16q23.1, splicing quantitative trait locus (sQTL) analysis.
    (4) GWAS for pancreatic cancer, meta-analysis.
    (5) Identifying noncoding somatic driver mutations in regulatory elements for pancreatic cancer.
  • Research Fellow (Full-time employee), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,CN (2014 - 2017)
    Research experience including:
    (1) Whole genome sequencing (WGS) analysis by PacBio single-molecule real-time (SMRT) technology.
    (2) Precision methylome characterization by PacBio SMRT technology.
    (3) Identification of m6A sequence motifs and corresponding methyltransferase (MTase) genes.
    (4) Pan-genome and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) deserts analyses.
    (5) Building a high-performance bioinformatic server.

Education

  • Ph.D. in Bioinfomatics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, CN (2009 - 2014)
    Dissertation: Genome sequencing, assembly, and comparative analysis of Penicillium chrysogenum and miniature Sus scrofa.
    Research experience including:
    (1) Whole genome sequencing analysis by next generation sequencing (NGS) (Roche 454 and Illumina Hiseq 2000) and Sanger (ABI 3730).
    (2) Building a first high-quality genome sequence of industrial high-penicillin strain of P. chrysogenum.
    (3) Discovery of a 53.7 Kb “new shift fragment” in a seven copies of determinative penicillin biosynthesis cluster in P. chrysogenum NCPC10086.
    (4) Building a genome reference and identification of genome-wide genetic diversity for miniature Sus scrofa.
  • B. Sc. in Biotechology, South-Central University for Nationalities, CN (2005 - 2009)
    General molecular biology and bioinformatics training.

Service

Journal Editor

  • Editorial Board Member in BMC Medicine (2024 - present)
  • Youth Editor in The Innovation (2022 - present)
  • Associate Editor in Frontiers in Oncology (2021 - 2023)

Journal Reviewer (select):

  • Gastroenterology, Med, Nature Communications, The Innovation, Journal of Hematology & Oncology, Genome Biology, eLife, BMC Medicine, Genomics Proteomics & Bioinformatics, Molecular Oncology, Cancer Letters.
    All peer-review and editor records have been or are being certified by Web of Science.

Conference/Award Reviewer:

  • American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) annual meeting abstracts (2024)
  • NIH DCEG Fellows Award for Research Excellence competition (DFARE) (2019)

Research

Selected Publications

For journals (# for co-first author, § for co-corresponding author):

Other Publications

For journals (# for co-first author, § for corresponding author):

For conferences:

Presentations

Invited speaker

  • Identifying noncoding somatic driver mutations in pancreatic cancer. Presented at NCI DCEG Early Career Scientists seminar, virtually, March 2023.

  • Pancreatic Cancer Cohort Consortium (PanScan IV) Update. Presented at Pancreatic Cancer Case-Control Consortium (PanC4) virtual annual meeting, virtually, December 2022.

  • Identifying non-coding somatic driver mutations in regulatory elements for pancreatic cancer. Presented (Platform) at American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) annual meeting, Los Angeles, October 2022.

  • Pancreatic Cancer Cohort Consortium (PanScan) IV GWAS update. Presented in the FinnGen Scientific Committee/Analysis group meeting, virtually, January 2022

  • PanScan update and preliminary results for PANDoRA and Asian GWAS scans. Presented in the PanScan cohort consortium annual meeting, virtually, October 2021.

  • Uncovering the dark matter of pancreatic cancer: noncoding somatic driver mutations in regulatory elements. Presented in the CRL (Consolidated Research Laboratory) seminar, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG, NCI), virtually. September 2020.

  • Large-scale Transcriptome-Wide Association Study (TWAS) Identifies Novel Candidate Susceptibility Genes for Pancreatic Cancer. Presented in the 11th Annual Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG, NCI) Fellows’ Training Symposium, Bethesda, MD. April 2019.

  • A Transcriptome-Wide Association Study (TWAS) Identifies Novel Candidate Susceptibility Genes for Pancreatic Cancer. Presented at the LTG (Laboratory of Translational Genomics) seminar, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG, NCI), Gaithersburg, MD. February 2019.

  • Genome sequencing of high-penicillin producing industrial strain of Penicillium chrysogenum. Invited Speaker at the twelfth Asia Pacific Bioinformatics Conference, Shanghai, China. January 2014. (Best Paper Award in the conference)

Selected Posters:

  • Zhong J, Eiser D, Brien A, Connelly K, Hoskins J, Jermusyk A, Collins I, Shen T, Zhao Y, Li Wang3, Guo K, TruongVo T, Wildenthal J, McKinnon K, Wells A, Grant S, Arda E, Shi J, Amundadottir L. Uncovering the dark matter of pancreatic cancer: identifying driver mutations in non-coding gene regulatory elements. Presented at American Society of Human Genetics virtual meeting (ASHG), October 2020. [Reviewers’ Choice award, top 10%]

  • Zhong J, Jermusyk A, Wu L, Hoskins J, Collins I, Zhang M, Lei S, Chung C, Zhang T, Xiao W, Stolzenberg-Solomon R, Klein A, Wolpin B, Shu X, Chanock S, Olson S, Chatterjee N, Smith J, Jianxin Shi, Kraft P, Petersen G, Zheng W, Amundadottir L. Large-scale transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) identifies novel candidate susceptibility genes for pancreatic cancer. Presented at American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting (AACR), Atlanta, GA. March 2019.

  • Zhong J, Wu L, Jermusyk A, Hoskins J, Collins I, Zhang M, Lei S, Chung C, Zhang T, Xiao W, PanScan, PanC4, Stolzenberg-Solomon R, Klein A, Wolpin B, Brown K, Shu X, Chanock S, Olson S, Chatterjee N, Petersen G, Smith J, Shi J, Kraft P, Zheng W, Amundadottir L. A Transcriptome-wide association study for pancreatic cancer. Presented at American Society of Human Genetics annual meeting (ASHG), San Diego, CA. October 2018.

Awards

  • DCEG Intramural Research Award ($50,000), National Cancer Institute (2021)
  • Fellows Award for Research Excellence, National Institutes of Health (2021)
  • Reviewers’ Choice Poster Award (Top 10%), American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) annual meeting (2020)
  • 2021 NCI Directors Innovation Award (Participant) (2020)
  • Fellows Award for Research Excellence, National Institutes of Health (2019)
  • Summer Research Mentor Award, National Institutes of Health (2019)
  • Visiting Fellowship Award, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health (2017 - 2022)
  • Best Paper Award, Asia Pacific Bioinformatics Conference (2014)
  • Merit Student (Top 15%), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (2011)
  • Merit Student (Top 15%), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (2010)

Professional Membership/Role

  • Member in American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) (2024)
  • Gold Member in American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (2023 - 2024)

  • Member in American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG)(2022-2024)

  • Associate Member in American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)(2018-2020)
  • Member in Tumor Microenvironment Group of the AACR (2018-2019)
  • Planning Committee Member in 10th Annual NCI DCEG Fellows’ Training Symposium (2017-2018)
  • Member in American Society of Human Genetics (2017-2018)

Contact

  • drjunchATgmail.com, jun.zhongATnih.gov

Posts

  • 05/18/2024: updated
  • 12/08/2023: updated
  • 06/05/2023: updated
  • 05/25/2021: my website is under construction and will be updated!