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Blumberg Institute Faculty News 2023

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  • Blumberg Institute Faculty News 2023

June 6, 2023

Taimoor Khan, PhD, has joined the Blumberg Institute as a Post Doctoral Research Fellow. He received his doctorate in biology at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2021. Prior to joining the Blumberg Institute Dr. Khan worked as a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of California San Francisco.                               

The Blumberg Institute was a sponsor of the 36th International Conference on Antiviral Research (ICAR), the annual meeting of the International Society for Antiviral Research (ISAR). Dr. Jinhong Chang was an invited speaker and presented on the topic “Development of an Orally Available Antiviral Drug for Yellow Fever.” Dr. Ju-Tao Guo and Dr. Yanming Du presented their hepatitis B and yellow fever research. Dr. Liudi Tang and postdoctoral researchers Dr. Fuxuan Wang, Dr. Biplav Shrestha and Dr. Hui Liu presented on research via virtual platform.

Richard G. Pestell, MD, PhD, FACP, FRACP, MBA, President

Aug. 22, 2023

LightSeed, a company developing therapies to prevent damage to the heart from chemotherapy given to children and adults with cancer, has received an additional year of funding from an SBIR grant. Cardiac damage from current therapies causes series morbidity and death in children and adults undergoing cancer treatments. LightSeed has identified a drug that provides substantial cardiac protection in preclinical studies and aims to conduct validation in clinical studies. More here.

Oct. 9, 2023

(L-R) Dr. Su, Dr. Cohen, Dr. Hyer, Dr. Guo, Dr. Zhao and Dr. Tang.

The Blumberg Institute was very well represented at the 2023 International HBV Meeting in Kobe, Japan, in September.

Dr. Ying-Hsiu Su and Dr. Qiong Zhao gave presentations. Dr. Chari Cohen, president of the Hepatitis B Foundation delivered a welcome and opening remarks to the nearly 500 scientists and other professionals in attendance. Also participating were Dr. Randy Hyer, president of the Blumberg Institute; Dr. Ju-Tao Guo, chief scientific officer, and Dr. Liudi Tang, assistant professor.

The International HBV Meeting, coordinated by the Hepatitis B Foundation and the Blumberg Institute, is the definitive annual meeting that covers all aspects of hepatitis B and hepatitis D. Learn more about the meeting here.

Minghong Zhong, PhD, has joined the Blumberg Institute as adjunct professor of translational medicine in residence. Dr. Zhong has over 22 years of experience in drug discovery in the pharmaceutical industry, including six years with Johnson and Johnson, specializing in medicinal and process chemistry of nucleic acids and small molecules. He obtained his doctoral degree in chemistry from Brigham Young University and did his postdoctoral research at Yale University in biochemistry and biophysics. He is the scientific founder of GeneLancet Biosciences and the inventor of LgRNA technology and STAR editing platform for precise CRISPR gene editing. Dr. Zhong’s current studies are focused on the development of LgRNA-directed precise CRISPR gene editors as cures for diseases of unmet needs.   

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