154th meeting of The Lyncean Group of San Diego – 11:00 am, Wednesday, 10 June 2026
Location: Southwestern Yacht Club
2702 Qualtrough Street, San Diego, CA 92106 (Point Loma)
Speaker: Dr. Liangfang Zhang, PhD
Joan and Irwin Jacobs Chancellor Professor and Chair, Aiiso Yufeng Li Family Department of Chemical and Nano Engineering, University of California San Diego (UCSD)
Topic: Cellular Nanoparticles for the Treatment of Infectious Diseases
Speaker bio: Dr. Liangfang Zhang is the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Chancellor Professor and Chair of the Aiiso Yufeng Li Family Department of Chemical and Nano Engineering at the University of California San Diego. Dr. Zhang received his B.E. and M.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering from Tsinghua University and completed his Ph.D. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2006 under the mentorship of Prof. Steve Granick. He was a postdoctoral associate in the laboratory of Prof. Robert Langer at MIT from 2006 to 2008. Dr. Zhang joined the Department of Nanoengineering at UC San Diego as an Assistant Professor in 2008, was promoted to Professor in 2014, and became the inaugural Joan and Irwin Jacobs Chancellor’s Endowed Chair in Innovations for Engineering in Medicine in 2021. In 2023, he was appointed as Chair of his department, which was renamed and endowed as the Aiiso Yufeng Li Family Department of Chemical and Nano Engineering in 2024. His research focuses on creating innovative biomimetic nanotechnologies for biomedical applications such as countermeasures, drug delivery and vaccines. He has authored 320 peer-reviewed publications and holds 136 patents and patent applications worldwide. Dr. Zhang is an elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2015), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2018), and the National Academy of Inventors (2020)
You’ll find more information here.
Abstract: The rising global incidence of bacterial and viral infections poses a serious public health threat due to high morbidity and mortality. Nanoparticle technology has enabled a wide array of improvements in the treatment of infectious diseases, ranging from improved efficacy in drug delivery to enhanced immunogenicity of vaccines. Among the different bio-inspired nanotechnology strategies, utilization of cellular membrane material for nanoparticle preparation presents a unique top-down approach that offers the advantage of being able to completely replicate the surface antigens and functions of source cells. Here, I discuss the biological functionalization of such nanoparticles and highlight their application in combating bacterial and viral infections.
Invitations with further details will be e-mailed to Lyncean Group members about three weeks before the meeting.
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