Members » Zheng Laboratory » College of Pharmacy

Portrait of Dr. Guanrong Zheng standing in his lab wearing a crisp, white UF College of Pharmacy lab coat. He is smiling and wears thinly rimmed glasses. His hair is short, black, and neatly cut. — Guangrong Zheng, PhD

Guangrong Zheng, PhD – PI

Guangrong Zheng, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Florida (UF), College of Pharmacy.

Dr. Zheng received his BS in medicinal chemistry from Fudan University and his PhD in synthetic organic chemistry from Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica. He then completed his postdoc training in drug design and discovery at the University of Kentucky, College of Pharmacy. Before he joined UF in March 2018, he was a faculty member at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Pharmacy. Download Dr. Zheng’s CV.

Zhixing Wu

Zhixing Wu, PhD – Research Assistant Professor

Zhixing Wu, PhD, is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry housed in Dr. Zheng’s lab.

Dr. Wu was first educated in chemistry at Sichuan University and went on to obtain his PhD from Shanghai Instituted of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences. There, his research included natural product total synthesis, synthesis of protein kinase inhibitors, and synthesis of glutathione S-transferase inhibitors. During his postdoctoral research at the College of Pharmacy at Texas A&M University, Dr. Wu worked on the synthesis of Abelson kinase inhibitors, design and synthesis of Cannabinoid receptor modulators and synthesis of Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase inhibitors.

Dr. Wu then worked as a medicinal chemist and project leader in the pharmaceutical industry for ten years where his research was centered on small molecule drug discovery targeting oncogenic proteins. Collaborating with cross-functional teams, his efforts led to the discovery of 3 drug candidates, one of which is currently in phase II clinical trial.

Find out more about Dr. Wu here.