Dr. Zheng-Rong Lu: Multifunctional pH-sensitive ionizable lipid nucleic acid nanoparticles for treating human diseases

Dr. Zheng-Rong Lu is M. Frank Rudy and Margaret Domiter Rudy Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case School of Engineering, Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Lu received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Chemistry from Lanzhou University, and Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Dr. Lu’s research efforts involve molecular imaging, image-guided cancer therapy, multifunctional pH-sensitive ionizable lipids for nucleic acids, and non-viral gene therapy.  He has over 200 peer-reviewed scientific publications, over 25 US and international patents and pending patent applications. He is a Principal Investigator of several major grants from the NIH and private foundations. Dr. Lu serves on the scientific advisory board of several peer-reviewed scientific journals. Dr. Lu has served in numerous NIH and DOD Study Sections and grant review panels. Dr. Lu is a co-founder of start-up companies of Molecular Theranostics, Motek Pharmaceuticals, Helios Biopharmaceuticals. One of his inventions, the first-in-class cancer-specific MRI contrast agent, is in clinical trials for precision cancer imaging. Dr. Lu is named a 2018 Gund-Harrington Scholar of Harrington Discovery Institute. He is a fellow of The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and a Fellow of National Academy of Inventors.