Nanoparticle-Based Delivery Strategies for Combating Drug Resistance in Cancer Therapeutics

Guo-Liang Lu completed his PhD in organic chemistry at Nankai University. He was appointed Associate Professor at Hebei Normal University in 1997 and later became a visiting scholar at Hong Kong Baptist University in 1999. In 2001, he joined the University of Auckland as a postdoctoral researcher with Professors Warren Roper FRS and James Wright in the School of Chemical Sciences. He was appointed Research Fellow at the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre in 2004. He is an Associate Investigator at the Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiscovery and a Councillor of the New Zealand Association of Scientists. His current research focuses on the development of anticancer agents, including antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs), hypoxia-activated prodrugs (HAPs) and metal-based drugs (MBDs), as well as anti-tuberculosis (TB) agents. He has published more than 105 peer-reviewed journal articles and is a co-inventor on seven international patents.

Yichao Zheng received his Bachelor's degree in Pharmaceutical Science from China Pharmaceutical University in 2008 and his Master's degree in Pharmacy from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in 2010. He earned his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from Zhengzhou University in 2014. He is now a Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at Zhengzhou University, where he serves as the Deputy Director of Henan Provincial Key Laboratory of Drug Quality Control and Evaluation. Professor Zheng has received numerous honors, including the Henan Provincial Outstanding Young Talents Award and Zhengzhou Municipal Youth Science & Technology Award. He serves in multiple academic leadership roles, including a committee member of the Chinese Pharmacological Society and an associate editor for International Immunopharmacology. His work has been supported by key grants, including National Natural Science Foundation projects and Henan Provincial Key R&D Program. His research topics mainly include the following: epigenetic drug discovery, protein post-translational modifications (particularly histone demethylation and deubiquitination), development of targeted protein degraders (PROTACs) and the regulatory mechanisms of small extracellular vesicles in disease pathogenesis.

Yan Li earned his medical degree in 1997, followed by a Master of Science from the University of Auckland in 2003 and a PhD from the University of Otago in 2007. Currently an Associate Professor at Auckland University of Technology (AUT), he serves as Programme Leader for Biomedical Science. His distinguished career in biomedical research includes supervising 9 PhD and 15 Master’s students to completion, securing research grants from prestigious organisations such as the Auckland Medical Research Foundation and the New Zealand Cancer Society, and authoring numerous publications. Dr. Li holds memberships, including Associate Investigator at the Maurice Wilkins Centre, and serves as an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Pharmacology. He leads key courses (BMED600, BMED700, BMED701, BIOL801) and fosters active collaborations with overseas institutions, including Sun Yat-sen University, Kanazawa University and Zhengzhou University. His research focuses on membrane transporter proteins (notably ABC and SLC transporters), pharmacokinetic disposition, drug resistance mechanisms, and immunity modulation.