Rate My Professor Donghui Zou

Dr. Donghui Zou serves as a Scientific Officer in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Otago, working within the Cancer Genetics Laboratory as part of the Centre for Translational Cancer Research. She earned a Bachelor of Medicine from Norman Bethune University of Medical Science and a PhD from Jilin University. Her research expertise focuses on cancer genetics, with particular emphasis on breast and colorectal cancer, as well as single cell RNA profiling techniques for the early detection of urological cancers. Dr. Zou contributes to projects advancing non-invasive diagnostic methods, including the analysis of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) for monitoring treatment responses in cancer patients. She has supervised honours students, such as in a 2021 Bachelor of Medical Science thesis on the application of circulating tumour DNA.

Dr. Zou has co-authored several impactful peer-reviewed publications in prominent journals. Key works include Decourtye-Espiard et al. (2026), 'E-cadherin loss in Cd44-positive gastric cells initiates diffuse gastric cancer in a murine model,' published in Gut; Zou et al. (2020), 'Circulating tumor DNA is a sensitive marker for routine monitoring of treatment response in advanced colorectal cancer,' in Carcinogenesis (volume 41, issue 11, pages 1507-1517); Parackal et al. (2019), 'Comparison of Roche Cell-Free DNA collection Tubes to Streck Cell-Free DNA BCTs for sample stability using healthy volunteers,' in Practical Laboratory Medicine (volume 16, article e00125); McInnes et al. (2017), 'Genome-wide methylation analysis identifies a core set of hypermethylated genes in CIMP-H colorectal cancer,' in BMC Cancer; and Zou et al. (2009), 'Increased levels of active c-Src distinguish invasive from in situ lobular lesions,' in Modern Pathology. Additional contributions encompass conference presentations, such as Fitzgerald et al. (2022) on evolving genomic complexity in ctDNA analysis of melanoma patients at the Cancer Satellite Meeting, Queenstown Research Week, and Parackal et al. (2017) proceedings on circulating tumor DNA as a diagnostic tool. These efforts underscore her role in elucidating genetic and epigenetic mechanisms in cancer progression and developing practical tools for clinical application within the biomedical sciences field at the University of Otago.