Dr. Zheng has extensive research skills and a solid, interdisciplinary background in extracellular vesicles, optical sensing and imaging, nanomaterials, and infectious diseases. He received his Ph.D. from Peking University in 2018. His Ph.D. research focused on the designing of nanomaterials with novel optical properties for sensing and antibacterial applications. Particularly, he has developed several nanomaterial-enhanced assays for the rapid sensing of a variety of targets for rapid food/environmental safety monitoring and disease diagnosis. At Tulane University, Dr. Zheng's research focuses on the development of nanosensors for detecting and quantifying tuberculosis-associated biomarkers including antigens and extracellular vesicles, with a goal of a validated test for tuberculosis diagnosis with high accuracy and reproducibility. Dr. Zheng's work has resulted in three patents (1 of which has been licensed by an international company) and more than 30 publications in peer-review journals including Nat. Biomed. Eng., Lancet Microbe, Nano Today, Nano. Lett., Anal. Chem., Small, Sci. Adv., Angew Chem., ACS Appl. Mater. & Interfaces etc.
1. Zheng, W, LaCourse, S., Song, B., Singh, D., Khanna, M., Olivo, J., Stern, J., Escudero, J., Vergara, C., Zhang, F., Li, S., Wang, S., Cranmer, L., Huang, Z., Bojanowski, C., Bao, D., Njuguna, I., Xiao, Y., Wamalwa, D., Nguyen, D., Yang, L., Maleche-Obimbo, E., Nguyen, N., Zhang, L., Phan, H., Fan, J., Ning, B., Li, C., Lyon, C., Graviss, E., John-Stewart, G., Mitchell, C., Ramsay, A., Kaushak, D., Liang, R., Perez-Then, E., Tony Y. Hu. Diagnosis of paediatric tuberculosis by optically detecting two virulence factors on extracellular vesicles in blood samples. Nat. Biomed. Eng. 2022, 6, 979-991.
2. Zheng, W,. Saliba, J. G., Wei, X., Shu, Q., Pierson, L. M., Mao, L., Liu, C., Lyon, C. J., Li,C. Z. Wimley, W., C., Hu, T.Y. Nanopore-based disease diagnosis using pathogen-derived tryptic peptides from serum. Nano Today, 2022, 45,101515.
3. Huang, Z., LaCourse, S., Kay, A., Stern, J., Escudero, J., Youngquist, B., Zheng, W., Vambe, D., Dlamini, M., Mtetwa, G., Cranmer, L., Njuguna, I., Wamalwa, K., Maleche-Obimbo, E., Catanzaro, D., Lyon, C., John-Stewart, G., DiNardo, A., Mandalakas, A., Ning, B., Hu, T. Y. CRISPR detection of circulating cell-free M. tuberculosis DNA in adults and children, including children with HIV: A molecular diagnostics study. Lancet Microbe, 2022, 3, e483-e493.
4. Yang, L., Liang, T., Pierson, L. M., Wang, H., Fletcher, J. K., Wang, S., Bao, D., Zhang, L., Huang, Z., Zheng, W., Zhang, X., Park, H., Li, Y., Robinson, J., Feehan, A., Lyon, C., Cao, J., Morici, L., Lic C., Roy, C., Yu, X., Hu, T. Y. SARS-CoV-2 epitopes following infection and vaccination overlap known neutralizing antibody sites. Research, 2022, 9769803.
5. Beddingfield, B., Iwanaga, N., Chapagain, P., Zheng, W., Roy, C. J., Hu, T. Y., Kolls, J., Bix, G. The integrin Binding Peptide, ATN-161, as a Novel Therapy for SARS-CoV-2 Infection. JACC: Basic Transl. Sci. 2021, 6, 1-8.
6. Amrollahi, P., Zheng, W. (co-first author), Monk, C., Li, C., Hu, Y. Nanoplasmonic sensor approaches for sensitive detection of disease-associated exosomes. ACS Appli. Bio Mater. 2021, 4, 6589-6603 (Cover Story).
7. Zheng, W., Li, H., Chen, W., Zhang, J., Wang, N., Guo, X., Jiang, X. Rapid detection of Cu ions in biological systems using click chemistry. Small, 2018, 14, 170387.
8. Zheng, W., Jia, Y., Chen, W., Wang, G., Guo, X., Jiang, X. Universal coating from electrostatic self-assembly to prevent multi-drug resistant bacteria colonization on medical devices/solid surfaces. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces. 2017, 9, 21181-21189.
9. Yang, M., Zhang, W., Yang, J., Hu, B., Cao, F., Zheng, W., Chen, Y., Jiang, X. Skiving stacked sheets of paper into test paper for rapid and multiplexed assay. Sci. Adv., 2017, 3, eaao4862.
10. Zheng, W., Li, H., Chen, W., Ji, J., Jiang, X. Recyclable colorimetric detection of trivalent cations in aqueous media using zwitterionic gold nanoparticles. Anal. Chem., 2016, 88, 4140-4146.
11. Chen W., Li, Q., Zheng, W., Hu, F., Zhang, G., Wang, Z., Zhang, D., Jiang, X. Identification of bacteria in water by a fluorescent array. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., 2014, 126, 13954-13959.
