Michael Wang Lab

Lab Information

Michael Wang

Michael Zhuo Wang, Ph.D.

Professor

Office: 252 Simons, (785) 864-1899

Labs: Simons 245 and 249

Email: michael.wang@ku.edu

 

Current Research:

  • Ocular drug disposition, delivery, and therapeutics
  • Environmental PFAS analysis and therapeutics
  • Drug discovery for protozoan infectious diseases
  • Cancer biomarkers and exosomes

Research Areas:

  • Bioanalytical Chemistry & Proteomics
  • Drug Metabolism and Drug Delivery
  • Pharmacometrics
  • Infectious Diseases



Research Projects

Model of a human eye with labels at the pupil. lens, cornea, iris, ciliary muscle, conjunctiva, episclera, sclera, retina, optic nerve, macula, vitreous humor humor, posterior chamber, and anterior pupil

Ocular Drug Disposition, Delivery, and Therapeutics 

  • Better understanding of ocular DMEs and DTs to expedite ophthalmic drug devlopment
  • Novel peptide-based drug modality for glaucoma therapyMicro-omics Chart
  • Novel ophthalmic formulations to improve ocular drug delivery
  • Predictive in vitro and computational models for ophthalmic drug/formulation evaluation

PFAS Analysis and Therapeutics

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, "Forever chemicals"

Graph of 40 PFAS from EPA Method 1633, Proposed model of renal transport of PFOA, PFOS and other PFAS in the rat kidney

Human Leishmaniasis

  • Protozoan Leishmania parasites (>20 species), transmitted by sandfly
  • Obligate intracellular parasites (macrophage phagolysosome)
  • 98 countries and 350 million people at risk
  • Most common clinical forms:
    • Visceral (VL): Internal organs (liver/spleen/BM), fatal without treatment, 2nd deadliest parasitic killer in the world (after malaria)
    • Cutaneous (CL): Ulcerative skin lesion, serious social prejudice/stigma
  • VL: 0.2-0.4 mil new cases/yr; 
  • CL: 0.7-1.3 mil new cases/yr;

Close up of a cell next to an image of a world map. Model of CYP5122A1 bound to posaconazole. Posaconazole is coordinated with the heme and extending out of CYP5122A1.

Blood Exosomal Proteins as Non-Invasive Cancer Biomarkers

Visual representation of Exosomes (DME) in a blood vessel, an image of blood being drawn from a person, and graphs explaining targeted proteomics and microfluidic exosome analysis

Ocular model that includes labels of various parts of the eye

Ocular Drug Disposition, Delivery, and Therapeutics

  • Better understanding of ocular DMEs and DTs to expedite ophthalmic drug devlopment
  • Novel peptide-based drug modality for glaucoma therapy
  • Novel ophthalmic formulations to improve ocular drug delivery
  • Predictive in vitro and computational models for ophthalmic drug/formulation evaluation
Multi-Omics chart