TITLE:  Biomimetic Self-Assembled Structures – Mimicking the Functions of Cell Membranes
SPEAKERS:  Dr. Shaodong Zhang, Department of Materials, Imperial College London, UK
TIME:  December 28 (Monday) 9:00
Venue:   Room 518, Chemistry Building A (化学楼5楼会议室)
INVITER:  Prof. Deyue Yan, Prof. Xinyuan Zhu (颜德岳教授, 朱新远教授)

Abstract: In this lecture, Dr. Zhang will present a new type of biomimetic tool, i.e., vesicles self-assembled by amphiphilic Janus dendrimers (JD), denoted dendrimersomes. Compared to liposomes and polymersomes, the preparation of dendrimersomes is very straightforward. Furthermore, by simply varying the structural segment and concentration of JD, unilamellar and multilamellar vesicles with controlled size and number of layers are formed, which provides a means to mimic different types of biological membrane in nature. More importantly, when incorporated with carbohydrates, the resulting vesicles provide a unique model to emulate the spatial display of multivalent glycan ligands on cell membranes. This provides us a powerful tool to understand specific carbohydrate-lectin intereactions on the cell surface, which otherwise cannot be achieved in isolation.

Biography: Dr. Shaodong Zhang is currently working with Prof. Molly Stevens (Fellow of Royal Academy of Engineering) as a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow in the Department of Materials at Imperial College London. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree from Zhengzhou University and received his Ph.D. in Physics and Chemistry of Materials from Sorbonne University-UPMC in Paris. Before he moved to London, he spent two years working with Prof. Virgil Percec at University of Pennsylvania as a Postdoctoral Research Associate. He is a recipient of Fellowship of French Ministry of Higher Education and Research, Chinese Government Award of Outstanding Students Abroad, and the prestigious Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship.

Dr. Zhang’s research is mainly focused on the fundamental of self-assembly and its application to elaboration of targeted drug delivery vehicles, understanding of the origin of homochirality, as well as the design of novel bone-repairing materials.

Selected publication:
[1] S. Zhang, et al, ACS Nano 2014, 8, 1554-1565.
[2] S. Zhang, et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2014 , 111, 9058-9063.
[3] S. Zhang, et al, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 10899-10903.
[4] S. Zhang, et al, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2015, 54, 4036-4040.
[5] S. Zhang, et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A 2015, 112, 5585–5590.
[6] S. Zhang, et al, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 13334−13344.