[8-19]Multifunctional ligands for Alzheimer's disease

Shijun Zhang

Assistant Professor

●EDUCATION

Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA

M.S.  in Medicinal Chemistry, Shandong Medical University, Jinan, P. R. China

B.S. in Pharmacy, Shandong Medical University, Jinan, P. R. China.

●PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2007-Present    Assistant Professor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry,

School of Pharmacy, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia

2005-2007      Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Medicinal Chemistry,

College of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota

                       Mentor: Dr. Philip S. Portoghese

2000-2004     Graduate Research Assistant, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan

                      Mentor: Dr. Aloke Dutta

●PUBLICATIONS 

1. Li, Q.; Wu, J.; Zheng, H.; Liu, K.; Guo, T.L.; Liu, Y.; Eblen, S.T.; Grant, S.; Zhang, S. Discovery of 3-(2-aminoethyl)-5-(3-phenyl-propylidene)-thiazolidine-2,4-dione as a dual inhibitor of the Raf/MEK/ERK and the PI3K/Akt signaling pathways. Bioorg. & Med. Chem. Lett. 2010, 20, 4526-4530.

2. Lenhart, J.A.; Ling, X.; Gandhi, R.; Guo, T.L.; Gerk, P.M.; Brunzell, D.H.; Zhang, S. "Clicked" bivalent ligands containing curcumin and cholesterol as multifunctional Abeta   oligomerization inhibitors: Design, synthesis, and biological characterization. J. Med. Chem. 2010, 53, 6198-6209.

3. Liu, K.; Rao, W.; Parikh, H.; Li, Q.; Guo, T.L.; Grant, S.; Kellogg, G.E.; Zhang, S. 3,5-Disubstituted- thiazolidine-2,4-dione analogs as anticancer agents: Design, synthesis and biological characterization. Eur. J. Med. Chem. 2012, 47, 125-137.

4. Liu, K.; Guo, T.L.; Chojnacki, J.; Lee, H.G.; Wang, X.; Siedlak, S.L.; Rao, W.; Zhu, X.; Zhang, S. Bivalent ligand containing curcumin and cholesterol as a fluorescent probe for Aβ plaques in Alzheimer’s disease. ACS Chem. Neurosci. 2012, 3, 141-146.

5. Liu, K.; Gandhi, R.; Chen, J.; Zhang, S. Bivalent ligands targeting multiple pathological factors involved in Alzheimer’s disease. ACS Med. Chem. Lett. 2012, 3, 942-946.

6. Liu, K.; Chen, J.; Chojnacki, J.; Zhang, S. BF₃·OEt₂-promoted concise one-pot synthesis

of difluoroboron-derivatized curcumins from aldehyde and 2,4-pentanedione. Tetrahedron Lett. 2013, 54, 2070-2073.

7. Liu, K.; Guo, T.L.; Hait, N.; Parikh, H.; Wang, X.; Xu, W.; Kellogg, G.E.; Milstien, S.; Grant, S.; Spiegel, S.; Zhang, S. Biological characterization of 3-(2-amino-ethyl)-5-[3-(4-butoxyl-phenyl)-propylidene-]-thiazolidine-2,4-dione (K145) as a selective sphingosine kinase 2 inhibitor and anticancer agent. PLoS One 2013, 8, e56471.

8. Liu, K.; Zhang, D.T.; Chojnacki, J.; Du, Y.; Fu, H.; Grant, S.; Zhang, S. Design and biological characterization of hybrid compounds of curcumin and thalidomide for multiple myeloma. Org. & Biomol. Chem. 2013, 11, 4757-4763. (Featured as the HOT Article)