Dr. Zhaohui Wang serves as the Director of Precision
Medicine and an Assistant Professor at the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical
Innovation (TIBI), while also holding an adjunct assistant professor position
at Duke University. He earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
from the Beijing Institute of Genomics, the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2012. Following
his doctoral studies, he completed postdoctoral research at the Preston Robert
Tisch Brain Tumor Center before joining the Duke Woo Center for Big Data for
Precision Health as Executive Director. During his tenure at Duke, he led a
multidisciplinary team in developing Micro-OrganoSphere (MOS) technology, an
innovative high-throughput organoid culture system that advances precision
oncology and normal tissue-derived organoid applications. His subsequent
industry experience includes serving as Head of Early Research and Partnership
Support at Xilis, Inc. Combining his academic and industry expertise, he is
dedicated to developing safer and more effective cancer therapies. At TIBI, his
laboratory focuses on precision medicine approaches, brain tumor research, stem
cell applications, tissue regeneration, and next-generation organoid technology
development.
Dr. Alireza Hassani has been serving as a Terasaki Fellow at
the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation since August 2021. He earned
his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor, where his research focused on developing nanoparticles for treating
autoimmune, inflammatory diseases and cancer. Additionally, he holds another
Ph.D. in Chemistry from Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran, Iran. At
the Terasaki Institute, his work bridges immunology and engineering to develop
innovative immunotherapies and vaccines. His laboratory specializes in
designing novel drug delivery systems aimed at enhancing immune functions for
treating cancer, autoimmune disorders, and obesity. His translational
immunoengineering research utilizes tools of nanotechnology, biomaterials, drug
delivery, tissue engineering, and advanced high-throughput methods to detect
and improve immune functions.
Dr. Xiling Shen is a Professor of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology and the CPRIT Established Scholar at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He completed his academic training at Stanford University, earning B.S., M.S. (2001), and Ph.D. (2008) degrees in Electrical Engineering, and later received the prestigious NSF Faculty CAREER Award during his tenure at Cornell University. Previously serving as the Hawkins Family Associate Professor in Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Woo Center for Big Data and Precision Health at Duke University. He has held leadership roles in national cancer research initiatives, including chairing the NCI Patient-Derived Model of Cancer Consortium Steering Committee, co-chairing the NCI Tissue Engineering Collaborative, and serving as Cancer Track Chair for the Biomedical Engineering Society Meeting. His leadership extends to directing the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's Human Cell Atlas Along the Gut-Brain Axis program and being among the first recipients of NIH SPARC and DARPA ElectRx program awards. As an accomplished entrepreneur, he has founded multiple biotechnology companies that have advanced to clinical trials, with one achieving $89 million in Series A funding under his CEO leadership and being named among Business Insider's top startups in 2023. His research laboratory focuses on cancer biology, stem cell research, and gut-brain axis investigations.
Dr. Chongming Jiang serves as an Assistant Professor at the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI). He completed his Ph.D. at Sun Yat-sen University in 2015 and subsequently conducted postdoctoral research at both Weill Cornell Medicine and Baylor College of Medicine. His research focuses on integrating immunomics, artificial intelligence (AI) machine learning, and experimental biology to tackle challenging problems in cancer immunotherapy and organ transplantation. Through his work, he has developed multiple predictive models, AI-based machine learning frameworks, and specialized databases designed to analyze immune microenvironment infiltration, enhance cancer vaccine development and T cell-based immunotherapies, identify novel therapeutic targets, and create prognostic indicators for cancer and transplantation outcomes. His interdisciplinary approach combines computational methods with biological experimentation to advance these medical fields.
