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Leonard Zon, M.D.

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Dr. Leonard I. Zon is the Grousbeck Professor of Pediatric Medicine at Harvard Medical School, an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Director of the Stem Cell Program at Children’s Hospital Boston. He received a B.S. in chemistry and natural sciences from Muhlenberg College and an M.D. from Jefferson Medical College. He subsequently did an internal medicine residency at New England Deaconess Hospital and a fellowship in medical oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Zon is the former President of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, President of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, Head of the external investigators of the Zebrafish Genome Institution, and Chair of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute’s Executive Committee.

Dr. Zon is internationally recognized for his pioneering research in the new fields of stem cell biology and cancer genetics. His current research focuses on two critical avenues of investigation: identifying the genes that direct stem cells to become cancers or to develop into more specialized blood or organ cells, and developing chemical or genetic suppressors to cure cancers and many other devastating diseases.

  • Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology
  • Grousbeck Professor of Pediatrics
    Harvard Medical School
  • Executive Committee Chair
    Harvard Stem Cell Institute
  • Director
    Stem Cell Program at Boston Children's Hospital
  • Investigator
    Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Lab

Zon Lab
Principal Investigator

Contact Information

Sherman Fairchild, Ground Floor
7 Divinity Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138

Related

Featured Publications

  • Ablain J, Xu M, Rothschild H, Jordan RC, Mito JK, Daniels BH, Bell CF, Joseph NM, Wu H, Bastian BC, Zon LI, Yeh I. 2018. Human tumor genomics and zebrafish modeling identify loss as a driver of mucosal melanoma. Science (New York, N.Y.). 362(6418):1055-1060. Pubmed: 30385465 DOI:10.1126/science.aau6509
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  • Mandelbaum J, Shestopalov IA, Henderson RE, Chau NG, Knoechel B, Wick MJ, Zon LI. 2018. Zebrafish blastomere screen identifies retinoic acid suppression of in adenoid cystic carcinoma. The Journal of experimental medicine. 215(10):2673-2685. Pubmed: 30209067 DOI:10.1084/jem.20180939
    Read Abstract
  • Lahvic JL, Ammerman M, Li P, Blair MC, Stillman ER, Fast EM, Robertson AL, Christodoulou C, Perlin JR, Yang S, Chiang N, Norris PC, Daily ML, Redfield SE, Chan IT, Chatrizeh M, Chase ME, Weis O, Zhou Y, Serhan CN, Zon LI. 2018. Specific oxylipins enhance vertebrate hematopoiesis via the receptor GPR132. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 115(37):9252-9257. Pubmed: 30139917 DOI:10.1073/pnas.1806077115
    Read Abstract
  • Kapp FG, Perlin JR, Hagedorn EJ, Gansner JM, Schwarz DE, O'Connell LA, Johnson NS, Amemiya C, Fisher DE, Wölfle U, Trompouki E, Niemeyer CM, Driever W, Zon LI. 2018. Protection from UV light is an evolutionarily conserved feature of the haematopoietic niche. Nature. 558(7710):445-448. Pubmed: 29899448 DOI:10.1038/s41586-018-0213-0
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  • Blaser BW, Moore JL, Hagedorn EJ, Li B, Riquelme R, Lichtig A, Yang S, Zhou Y, Tamplin OJ, Binder V, Zon LI. 2017. CXCR1 remodels the vascular niche to promote hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell engraftment. The Journal of experimental medicine. 214(4):1011-1027. Pubmed: 28351983 DOI:10.1084/jem.20161616
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  • Tan JL, Fogley RD, Flynn RA, Ablain J, Yang S, Saint-André V, Fan ZP, Do BT, Laga AC, Fujinaga K, Santoriello C, Greer CB, Kim YJ, Clohessy JG, Bothmer A, Pandell N, Avagyan S, Brogie JE, van Rooijen E, Hagedorn EJ, Shyh-Chang N, White RM, Price DH, Pandolfi PP, Peterlin BM, Zhou Y, Kim TH, Asara JM, Chang HY, Young RA, Zon LI. 2016. Stress from Nucleotide Depletion Activates the Transcriptional Regulator HEXIM1 to Suppress Melanoma. Molecular cell. 62(1):34-46. Pubmed: 27058786 DOI:S1097-2765(16)00223-9
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  • Kaufman CK, Mosimann C, Fan ZP, Yang S, Thomas AJ, Ablain J, Tan JL, Fogley RD, van Rooijen E, Hagedorn EJ, Ciarlo C, White RM, Matos DA, Puller AC, Santoriello C, Liao EC, Young RA, Zon LI. 2016. A zebrafish melanoma model reveals emergence of neural crest identity during melanoma initiation. Science (New York, N.Y.). 351(6272):aad2197. Pubmed: 26823433 DOI:10.1126/science.aad2197
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  • Mosimann C, Panáková D, Werdich AA, Musso G, Burger A, Lawson KL, Carr LA, Nevis KR, Sabeh MK, Zhou Y, Davidson AJ, DiBiase A, Burns CE, Burns CG, MacRae CA, Zon LI. 2015. Chamber identity programs drive early functional partitioning of the heart. Nature communications. 6:8146. Pubmed: 26306682 DOI:10.1038/ncomms9146
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  • Li P, Lahvic JL, Binder V, Pugach EK, Riley EB, Tamplin OJ, Panigrahy D, Bowman TV, Barrett FG, Heffner GC, McKinney-Freeman S, Schlaeger TM, Daley GQ, Zeldin DC, Zon LI. 2015. Epoxyeicosatrienoic acids enhance embryonic haematopoiesis and adult marrow engraftment. Nature. 523(7561):468-71. Pubmed: 26201599 DOI:10.1038/nature14569
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  • Ablain J, Durand EM, Yang S, Zhou Y, Zon LI. 2015. A CRISPR/Cas9 vector system for tissue-specific gene disruption in zebrafish. Developmental cell. 32(6):756-64. Pubmed: 25752963 DOI:S1534-5807(15)00075-1
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  • Tamplin OJ, Durand EM, Carr LA, Childs SJ, Hagedorn EJ, Li P, Yzaguirre AD, Speck NA, Zon LI. 2015. Hematopoietic stem cell arrival triggers dynamic remodeling of the perivascular niche. Cell. 160(1-2):241-52. Pubmed: 25594182 DOI:S0092-8674(14)01638-9
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  • Huang HT, Kathrein KL, Barton A, Gitlin Z, Huang YH, Ward TP, Hofmann O, Dibiase A, Song A, Tyekucheva S, Hide W, Zhou Y, Zon LI. 2013. A network of epigenetic regulators guides developmental haematopoiesis in vivo. Nature cell biology. 15(12):1516-25. Pubmed: 24240475 DOI:10.1038/ncb2870
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