How nanomedicine can be used in the treatment of tumors: an interview with Dr Gang Zheng.

Dr Zheng received his PhD in 1999 from SUNY Buffalo in Medicinal Chemistry. Following 2 years of postdoctoral training in photodynamic therapy at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, he joined the University of Pennsylvania in 2001 as an Assistant Professor of Radiology, where he established the molecular imaging chemistry program and introduced photodynamic molecular beacons and lipoprotein-like nanoparticles. Since moving to Canada in 2006, his research has been focused on developing clinically translatable technology platforms to combat cancer. His lab discovered porphysome nanotechnology that opened a new frontier in cancer imaging and therapy (Nature Materials 2011), which was named one of the 'top 10 cancer breakthroughs of 2011' by the Canadian Cancer Society. Dr Zheng is an Associate Editor for Bioconjugate Chemistry and a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.