Zhong-Yin Zhang, PhD
Distinguished Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, Robert C. and Charlotte P. Anderson Chair in Pharmacology, Head of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Director of the Institute for Drug Discovery
Professor bio:
Zhong-Yin Zhang graduated from Nankai University, China, with a B.S. in Chemistry in 1984. He obtained a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Purdue University in 1990. After a brief stint at Upjohn, he completed his postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan. Dr. Zhang established his own laboratory in 1994 at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he rose to the rank of Professor in 2002. From 2005-2015, Dr. Zhang was Robert A. Harris Professor and Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Indiana University School of Medicine. In 2016, Dr. Zhang moved back to Purdue as Distinguished Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, Robert C. and Charlotte P. Anderson Chair in Pharmacology, and Head of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology. He also serves as the Director of the Institute for Drug Discovery at Purdue University. Dr. Zhang’s research spans the disciplines of chemistry and biology with an emphasis on the structure/function and therapeutic targeting of protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs), a large family of enzymes (>100) that serve as key regulatory components in signal transductions controlling cell growth, metabolism, survival and the immune response. His work contributes to our understanding of the catalytic mechanism of PTP catalysis; molecular basis for PTP substrate recognition; and several PTP-mediated signaling pathways. His team also pioneers the development of potent, selective, and bioavailable PTP inhibitors (orthosteric, allosteric, covalent, and small molecule degraders) for functional target interrogation and therapeutic translation.
Abstract:
Protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) are signaling molecules essential for many cellular functions. Despite increasing interest in PTPs, they still remain largely an underexploited target class. Among major factors that contribute to the difficulty of PTP-based drug discovery are incomplete understanding of how PTP malfunction causes diseases and insufficient target validation. In addition, there is the general lack of PTP-specific small molecule probes for functional interrogation, target validation, and therapeutic development. In this presentation, I describe our recent work on oncogenic PTPs that yield new insights into their roles in tumorigenesis. Improved knowledge of the PTP-mediated disease mechanisms is essential for designing new therapeutic strategies. I also discuss several approaches for the acquisition of highly potent and selective PTP inhibitors and degraders with efficacious in vivo activity. Potent and specific PTP inhibitors facilitate functional analysis of the PTPs in complex signal transduction pathways and may constitute novel therapeutics for a wide range of human diseases.
