Dr. Qibin Zhang has joined UNCG as co-director of the Center for Translational Biomedical Research (CTBR). Zhang, an expert in bioanalytical chemistry, comes to UNCG after nearly a decade at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Biological Sciences Division.
“Our goal is to build a first-class research center around understanding, diagnosing, treating and preventing human disease,” said Dr. Zhang. “The Center for Translational Biomedical Research will use cutting-edge methodologies to identify biomolecules crucial to early diagnosis and treatment of disease.”
Dr. Zhang’s National Institutes of Health-funded research focuses on developing ultrasensitive methods of measuring lipids, which play a role in disorders such as diabetes and cancer. His other major project centers on discovering biomarkers for early diagnosis of type 1 diabetes, a devastating disorder occurring mostly among children.
The CTBR’s other co-director, Dr. Zhanxiang Zhou, researches gut, liver, and adipose tissue interactions as they relate to liver damage.
The CTBR is located at the North Carolina Research Campus (NCRC) in Kannapolis. The 350-acre campus houses corporations, universities and healthcare organizations in a public-private partnership to better understand human health, nutrition, and agriculture.
“I am excited to collaborate with my highly-accomplished UNCG and NCRC colleagues in nutrition and medicinal biochemistry,” said Dr. Zhang, adding that he hopes to establish and expand collaborative research opportunities involving UNCG, NCRC, and local colleges, universities, and biotech companies.
Dr. Zhang, who holds a joint appointment as a UNCG Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry associate professor, has a PhD in analytical chemistry from the University of California Riverside and a bachelor of science in chemistry from Shandong Normal University in China.
The UNCG Center for Translational Biomedical Research (CTBR), which reports to UNCG’s Office of Research and Economic Development, is located at the North Carolina Research Campus (NCRC) in Kannapolis, NC. The mission of the CTBR is to implement biomedical discoveries for understanding of disease pathogenesis and development of novel interventions for prevention and treatment. The CTBR includes a Laboratory of Metabolomics and Laboratory of Metabolic Liver Disease.
