Weian Zhao

Picture of Weian Zhao
Professor
School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences
Professor, Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center
Professor, Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
Ph.D., McMaster University, 2008, Chemistry
M.S., Shandong University, 2003, Chemistry
B.S., Shandong University, 2000, Chemistry
University of California, Irvine
Stem Cell Research Center, Sue & Bill Gross Hall
845 Health Sciences Road, Suite 3027
Irvine, CA 92697
Research Interests
Stem cell therapy, diagnostics, biosensors, nano- and microtechnology, aptamers
Academic Distinctions
Editorial Board Member of Journal Stem Cell International
Editorial Board Member of Journal Nanotechnology
Selected participant of the 60th Meeting of Nobel Laureates, Lindau, Germany
Executive board member of the 35th Northeast Bioengineering Conference, Boston,
Materials Research Society (MRS) Graduate Student Silver Award
Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Student Abroad
Student competition award in 89th Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition
Future Star scholarship, Shandong University
Appointments
Human Frontier Science Program Postdoctoral Fellow
Harvard Medical School
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Harvard-MIT Division of Health Science & Technology
Harvard Stem Cell Institute
Research Abstract
Positions available for highly motivated Postdocs, Graduate Students and Undergraduate students who want to join an interdisciplinary and collaborative team to address unmet challenges in biology and medicine.
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My research aims to understand and ultimately control the fate of the transplanted stem cells in the body (i.e. where they go and what they do), which will lead to effective and safe clinical medicine. We study the biological, therapeutic and detrimental functions of transplanted stem cells in vivo, which will eventually allow us to better utilize them to treat a variety of diseases including cancer and stroke. Furthermore, we are developing bioengineered tools including microfluidics, nanoparticles and aptamers to tackle unmet challenges in disease diagnosis and global health.
Available Technologies
Publications
(22) Debanjan Sarkar, Sebastian Schaefer, Joel A. Spencer, Weian Zhao, Dawn P. Spelke, Rohit Karnit, Charles P. Lin, Jeffrey M. Karp.* Engineered cell homing. 2011, Blood. In press
(21) Weian Zhao,* Jeffrey M. Karp*. Bioengineering nanotechnology: towards the clinic. Nanotechnology, 2011, In press (Editorial)
(20) Chenjie Xu, Luye Mu, Isaac Roes, David Miranda-Nieves, Weian Zhao, Jeffrey M. Karp. Tracking of Transplanted Cells in Cell Therapy with Nanoparticle-based Imaging Probes. Nanotechnology, 2011, In press (Special Issue of Bioengineered Nanotechnology).
(19) Weian Zhao, Sebastian Schafer, Jonghoon Choi, Yvonne J. Yamanaka, Maria L. Lombardi, Suman Bose, Alicia L. Carlson, Joseph A. Phillips, Weisuong Teo, Ilia A. Droujinine, Cheryl Cui, Rakesh K. Jain, Jan Lammerding, J. Christopher Love, Charles P. Lin, Debanjan Sarkar, Rohit Karnik, and Jeffrey M. Karp.* Cell surface sensors for real-time probing of cellular environments. Nature Nanotechnology, 2011, 6, 524-531. Highlighted in Nature Biotechnology.
(18) Weian Zhao, Weili Loh, Ilia A. Droujinine, Weisuong Teo, Namit Kumar, Sebastian Schafer, Cheryl Cui, Liang Zhang, Debanjan Sarkar, Rohit Karnik and Jeffrey M. Karp.* Mimicking the inflammatory cell adhesion cascade by nucleic acid aptamer programmed cell-cell interactions. The FASEB Journal, 2011, 25, 3045-3056.
(17) Weian Zhao, Grace Teo, Namit Kumar, Jeffrey M. Karp,* Chemistry and material science at the cell surface. Materials Today, 2010, 13, 14-21. Invited review.
(16) Debanjan Sarkar, Praveen Kumar Vemula, Weian Zhao, Ashish Gupta, Jeffrey M. Karp.* Surface Modification of mesenchymal stem cells with self-assembled vesicles for systemic cell targeting. Biomaterials, 2010, 31, 5266-5274.
(15) C. Keith Ozaki,* Dimitrios Mitsouras, Praveen K. Vemula, Dia Smiley, Ming Tao, Peng Yu, Christina Campagna, Weian Zhao, Robert V. Mulkern, Jeffrey M. Karp, Frank Rybicki. Novel Implantable vein graft contrast yields enhanced outer wall definition in magnetic resonance imaging. Journal of Vascular Surgery, 2010, 51, 533.
(14) Weian Zhao, Jeffrey M. Karp.* Control cell fate in vivo. ChemBioChem, 2009, 10, 2308-2310. Highlight article.
(13) Weian Zhao, Jeffrey M. Karp.* Tumour targeting: Nanoantennas heat up. Nature Materials 2009, 8, 453-454. News and Views article in Special issue on biomaterials.
(12) Weian Zhao, Elodie Pacard, Carole Chaix-Bauvais, Christian Pichot, Michael A. Brook*. Covalent assembly of silica nanoparticle aggregates for oligonucleotide synthesis. Colloids and Surface A, 2009, 339, 26-34.
(11) Weian Zhao,* Albert van der Berg.* Lab on Paper, Lab Chip. 2008, 8, 1988-91. Commentary article in Special Issue on point-of-care diagnostics.
(10) Weian Zhao, Monsur M. Ali, Sergio D. Aguirre, Michael A. Brook* and Yingfu Li*. Paper-based bioassays using gold nanoparticle colorimetric probes. Anal. Chem. 2008, 80, 8431-7.
(9) Weian Zhao, Michael A. Brook,* Yingfu Li*. Design of gold nanoparticle based colorimetric biosensing assays. ChembioChem 2008, 9, 2363-71. Review article. Most accessed articles in 2008-2009; Most cited in 2010.
(8) Weian Zhao, Monsur M. Ali, Michael A. Brook* and Yingfu Li*. Rolling circle amplification: new applications in nanotechnology and functional nucleic acid-based biodection. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2008, 47, 6330-6337. Review article.
(7) Weian Zhao, William Chiuman, Jeffrey C. F. Lam, Simon A. McManus, Wei Chen, Yuguo Cui, Robert Pelton, Michael A. Brook,* Yingfu Li.* DNA aptamer folding on gold nanoparticle: from colloid chemistry to biosensors. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2008, 130, 3610-3618. Selected as one of 21 papers of “chemistry at nano and bio interface”.
(6) Weian Zhao, Jeffrey C. F. Lam, Willium Chiuman, Michael A. Brook,* Yingfu Li.* Enzymatic cleavage of nucleic acid on gold nanoparticle: a generic platform for facile biosensors. Small, 2008, 4, 810-816.
(5) Weian Zhao, William Chiuman, Michael A. Brook,* Yingfu Li.* Simple and rapid colorimetric biosensors based on DNA aptamer and non-crosslinking gold nanoparticle aggregation. ChemBioChem, 2007, 8, 727-731. Most accessed articles in 2007.
(4) Weian Zhao, Ferdinand Gonzaga, Yingfu Li,* Michael A. Brook.* Highly stabilized nucleotide-capped small gold nanoparticles with tunable size. Adv. Mater. 2007, 19, 1766-1771.
(3) Weian Zhao, William Chiuman, Jeffrey Lam, Michael A. Brook,* Yingfu Li.* Simple and rapid colorimetric enzyme sensing assays using non-crosslinking gold nanoparticle aggregation. Chem. Commun., 2007, 3729-3731.
(2) Weian Zhao, Yan Gao, Michael A. Brook,* Yingfu Li.* Wrapping single-walled carbon nanotubes with long single-stranded DNA molecules produced by rolling circle amplification. Chem. Commun., 2006, 3582-3584.
(1) Weian Zhao, Yan Gao, Srinivas A. Kandadai, Michael A. Brook,* Yingfu Li.* DNA polymerization on gold nanoparticles through rolling circle amplification: towards novel scaffolds for three-dimensional periodic nanoassemblies. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2006, 45, 2409-2413. (VIP paper) Highlighted in MRS bulletin
Professional Societies
International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR)
American Chemistry Society (ACS)
Material Research Society (MRS)
Society for Biomaterials (SFB)
Graduate Programs
Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacology
Last updated
01/08/2022