SPOKANE, Wash. – Three new research-active faculty recently joined the Washington State University College of Pharmacy – two from the Penn State University College of Medicine and one from the University of Illinois School of Medicine at Chicago.
Jiyue Zhu and Shuwen Wang, who are husband and wife, worked for the past 14 years at Penn State. Each has a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Dartmouth Medical School in New Hampshire and both have been conducting National Institutes of Health-funded research into specific genetic connections between human cancer and aging.
Zhu’s research focus is the telomerase gene that plays a crucial role in the formation of most human cancers as well as aging. While at Penn State, Wang closely collaborated with Zhu, focusing on telomerase gene regulation in the context of stem cell research. Zhu is a full professor and Wang a clinical associate professor at WSU.
Zhenjia Wang worked the past six years at the University of Illinois before joining WSU as an assistant professor. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Changchun, China.
His current research, funded by the National Institutes of Health, is focused on designing and creating nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems to prevent and treat cardiovascular inflammatory diseases. Nanoparticles are valued for their potential to differentiate cells and tissues, release drugs in a controlled manner and efficiently deliver a combination of different drugs.
Contact:
Lorraine Nelson, WSU College of Pharmacy communications, lanelson@wsu.edu, 509-368-6671