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Biography
I obtained BSc Pharmacy and MSc Biopharmaceutics & Pharmacokinetics from China Pharmaceutical University, following which I was appointed as Lecturer in Pharmaceutics at the same university (1989 - 1991). I attained my PhD under the supervision of Professor Mike Richards in the School of Pharmacy, The Robert Gordon University (Scotland, UK). After completing my PhD studies in 1995, I was a postdoc fellow in the Department of Pharmacy, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. In 1997 I returned to the UK and worked at a spin-out R&D Pharm company at King's College London. Later I moved to Centre of Therapeutics and Toxicology, Imperial College London, focusing on development of label-free quantitative Proteomics with its application for toxicology research in the laboratory of Professor Allan Boobis. In 2010 I was appointed as Senior Lecturer in Pharmacology in the Department of Life Sciences, University of Bedfordshire, developed and led the MSc Pharmacology course successfully. In 2016 I joined the School of Pharmacy at Nottingham as Associate Professor and the course Director of the BSc International Pharmacy, a part of the first UK-China Joint Clinical Pharmacy program.
Teaching Summary
New course development & management:
BSc International Pharmacy TUTCM
Module teaching delivery and management:
Lectures/workshops: BSc International Pharmacy Year 1; MPharm/BSc Year 2; BSc/MSci Pharmaceutical Science Year 3
Research Summary
My current research interest lies in drug development and understanding molecular mechanism of Alzheimer's disease and other aging associated diseases, in particular, development of in vitro and in… read more
Recent Publications
YAO, H., URAS, GIUSEPPE, ZHANG, PENGFEI, XU, SHENGTAO, YIN, YING, LIU, JIE, QIN, SHUAI, LI, XINOU, ALLEN, STEPHANIE, BAI, RENREN, GONG, QI, ZHANG, HAIYAN, ZHU, ZHEYING and XU, JINYI, 2021. Discovery of novel tacrine-pyrimidone hybrids as potent dual AChE/GSK-3 inhibitors for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. (In Press.)
LU, LI, HAO, KUN, HONG, YU, LIU, JIE, ZHU, JINWEI, JIANG, WENJIAO, ZHU, ZHEYING, WANG, GUANGJI and PENG, YING, 2021. Magnesium isoglycyrrhizinate reduces hepatic lipotoxicity through regulating metabolic abnormalities International Journal of Molecular Sciences. (In Press.)
URAS, GIUSEPPE, MANCA, ALESSIA, ZHANG, PENGFEI, MARKUS, ZSUZSA, MACK, NATALIE, ALLEN, STEPHANIE, BO, MARCO, XU, SHENGTAO, XU, JINYL, GEORGIOU, MARIOS and ZHU, ZHEYING, 2021. In vivo evaluation of a newly synthesized acetylcholinesterase inhibitor in a transgenic Drosophila model of Alzheimer's disease Frontiers in Neuroscience. (In Press.)
Current Research
My current research interest lies in drug development and understanding molecular mechanism of Alzheimer's disease and other aging associated diseases, in particular, development of in vitro and in vivo models for screening and pre-clinical evaluation of novel therapeutics (small drug compounds, gene therapy), through integrated application of multi-omics (transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics) techniques (LC-MS, OrbiSIMS, AP-MALDI) together with imaging tools. AI and machine learning techniques are explored to predict BBB permeation of drug molecules and toxicity.
Another focus of drug development is formulation and delivery systems, these include targeted delivery of nucleic acid therapeutics (iv; intranasal); nanomedicine; orally drug controlled release; transdermal/intradermal delivery for drugs and skincare products.
The research projects currently available in my group include:
1) Using AI and molecular biology tools to investigate human aging process and develop novel approaches or therapeutics for anti-aging of brain, skin or others.
2) Novel drug targets and molecular mechanism for Alzheimer's disease, involved in neuron regeneration, neuroinflammation, or stroke.
3) Gene based therapies for Alzheimer's disease and development of their delivery systems
4) The use of PROTACs technique to discover and develop novel drug candidates for Alzheimer's disease
5) The use of Drosophila melanogaster models to identify and evaluate novel therapeutic agents for Alzheimer's disease
We are always looking for new research members to join the group to experience the excitement of research and make new discoveries. Places for research students (PhD or MRes) are available on all the above projects. Please get in touch to discuss if you are interested in the research areas. For international students, there are scholarship schemes to receive support, please get in touch for up to date information.