University of the Sunshine Coast
Min Zhao
Senior Lecturer in Genomics and Senior Research Fellow, School of Science, Technology and Engineering.
I use large-scale genomics to study genetic regulation, and I build the databases and software that turn sequence data into biomarkers for personalised medicine.
Figures follow the current UniSC staff profile.
About
From sequence data to biological resources.
I trained in bioinformatics at Peking University, completing a PhD in 2009, then worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Vanderbilt University on the integration of genomic, transcriptomic, and literature data in complex disease.
I joined UniSC in 2014 and was promoted to Senior Research Fellow in 2018. The group integrates genome, transcriptome, and proteome data, with a growing focus on artificial intelligence for interpreting multi-omics. I have published in journals including Nature, Nature Communications, Cell Research, and the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Alongside cancer genomics, I work with marine genomes and serve as Vice President of the Australia New Zealand Marine Biotechnology Society.
Bioinformatics
Genetics
Statistics
Calculus
Research
What the group works on
Cancer genomics
Genetic changes that sit on pathways of drug response, tumour suppression, and stage transition, read across many cancer types at once.
Biomarker resources
Public databases and editors for tumour suppressors, oncogenes, lncRNA networks, copy-number variants, and epithelial–mesenchymal transition.
Multi-omics and AI
Integration of genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic data, including language models and agents that help interpret those datasets.
Software and databases
Resources built for reuse
TSG
TSGeneTumour suppressor gene database. 750+ citations, cited in 12 patents, and used in single-cell CRISPR design.
ONG
ONGeneHuman oncogene database.
LNC
LncaNetPan-cancer interactome of lncRNAs.
CNV
CNVannotatorAnnotation for copy-number variants.
PWE
PathwayEditorA tool for editing biological pathways.
EMT
dbEMTGenes in epithelial–mesenchymal transition.
Selected work
Research highlights
Featured collaboration
Whole-exome sequencing in pulmonary arterial hypertension
A clinician–bioinformatician study in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. Whole-exome sequencing asked whether genetic variants differ among patients with different responses to calcium channel-blocker therapy.
Pan-cancer mutational analysis
Shared tumour suppressors across cancers, mapped with the TSGene database.
lncRNA interactome
Non-coding regulatory pairs shared across cancer types in LncaNet, with a path toward lncRNA biomarkers.
Stage transition
Cell-senescence genes that change between stage III and stage IV in TCGA ovarian cancer, explored in CSGene.
Bioinformatics
Cancer genomics
Students
I supervise PhD and honours projects in cancer genomics, tumour-suppressor evolution, and multi-omics integration. Funded places are advertised by UniSC when they open.