Zeming (Eileen) Zheng is an undergraduate researcher in the Bhatnagar Lab at the University of Virginia School of Medicine’s Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics Department. She studied neuroscience and social entrepreneurship at UVA and will be attending dental school in Fall 2019.
Ms. Zheng first got involved with research in high school where she was given the opportunity to carry out an independent research project studying a potential therapeutic for oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). She continued her work with OSCC through an internship with Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center under the guidance of Dr. Mira Jung. Understanding the epigenetic mechanisms of how histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors sensitize OSCC cells to radiation therapy sparked Ms. Zheng’s interest in epigenetics, which brought her to Dr. Bhatnagar’s lab at UVA, studying the potential of X-chromosome reactivation therapies for Rett Syndrome. Ms. Zheng hopes to continue pursuing her research interests in the future, aspiring to become an oral physician and scientist.
