Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, The University of Hong Kong

Professor W.P. WANG 汪衛平

Biography

Prof. Weiping Wang is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy & Dr. Li Dak-Sum Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong. He is also a Principal Investigator at the State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at HKU. He obtained his Ph.D. (supervisor: Prof. Ying Chau) in Chemical Engineering from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2011. He worked as a Research Fellow (supervisor: Prof. Daniel Kohane) at Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Postdoctoral Associate (supervisor: Prof. Robert Langer) at Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was a visiting scholar in 2024 at the lab of Prof. Ben Feringa (Nobel Laureate) at the University of Groningen.

Professor W.P. Wang and his research associates

Professor W.P. Wang and his research associates


Memberships
  • Lifetime Member of International Photodynamic Association
  • Member of American Institute of Chemical Engineers
  • Member of Society for Biological Engineering
  • Lifetime Member of Chinese Association for Biomaterials
Editorships

Guest Editor, Special Issue on Photopharmacology, Medicinal Research Reviews, Wiley Publishing, 2024-2025

Guest Editor, Special Issue on Advanced Technologies for Biomedical Applications by Emerging Researchers in Asia-Pacific, Bioengineering & Translational Medicine, Wiley Publishing, 2022-2023

Guest Editor, Special Topic on Drug/Gene Delivery and Theranostics, APL Bioengineering, American Institute of Physics (AIP) Publishing, 2022-2023

Honours and Awards
  • Two Gold Medals & one Silver Medal, International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva, 2024
  • Overseas Fellowship Award, HKU, 2023 (Visiting the Lab of the Nobel Laureate Prof. Ben Feringa in 2024)
  • NSFC Excellent Young Scientists Fund (Hong Kong and Macau), National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), 2022
  • Gold Medal, Special Edition 2022 Inventions Geneva Evaluation Days, 2022
  • Thieme Chemistry Journals Award, Thieme Chemistry Journals, 2021
  • Journal of Materials Chemistry B Emerging Investigator, Royal Society of Chemistry, 2020
  • Faculty Outstanding Research Output Award, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, HKU, 2020
  • Young Innovator Award in Nanobiotechnology (NR 45, 45 outstanding young investigators under 45), Nano Research, Tsinghua University Press & Springer Nature, 2018

Research Interests
  • Nanomedicine
  • Photopharmacology
  • Ocular drug delivery
  • Photoresponsive drug delivery
  • Engineering stimuli-responsive nanomaterials for drug delivery

Publications
Selected Publications

Ten Selected Original Research Articles

 

Invited Review Articles


Full List of Publicationshttp://wanglab.org/publications/


Patents
  • Weiping Wang, Xiaoling Liang, Yang Zhou, Jia Li, A photoresponsive peptide delivery system based on BODIPY modification, Chinese Patent (No. 202311653291.X)
  • Weiping Wang, Yichi Zhang, Biomimetic intraocular drug delivery system for the treatment of retinoblastoma, US Provisional Patent (No. 63/583,620, 2023)
  • Weiping Wang, Tianyi Wang, Polymersome Nanoparticles Exhausting Intracellular Amino Acid for Cancer Starvation Therapy, US Provisional Patent (No. 63/514,949, 2023)
  • Weiping Wang, Yaming Zhang, Reactive oxygen species-responsive polymeric prodrug nanoparticles for selective and effective treatment of inflammatory diseases, US Provisional Patent (No. 63/515,837, 2023)
  • Weiping Wang, Tianyi Wang, Polymersome Nanoparticles Exhausting Intracellular Amino Acid for Cancer Therapy and Methods Thereof, US Provisional Patent (No. 63/514,949, 2023)
  • Weiping Wang, Kaiqi Long, Near-infrared Light-Triggered Upconversion-like Prodrug Photolysis by One-step Energy Transfer, US Provisional Patent (No. 63/506,991, 2023)
  • Weiping Wang, Kaiqi Long, Yifan Wang, Photocleavable prodrug-based nanomedicine for in-situ monitorable cancer therapy, PCT Patent (No. PCT/CN2022/124524, 2022)
  • Weiping Wang, Kaiqi Long, Shuting Xu, Photoactivatable prodrug nanoparticles for combined anti-angiogenesis and photodynamic therapy, PCT Patent (No. PCT/CN2022/107621, 2022)
  • Weiping Wang, Yaming Zhang, ROS-responsive prodrugs and compositions and methods of thereof, PCT Patent (No. PCT/CN2022/104160, 2022)
  • Weiping Wang, Tianyi Wang, Kaiqi Long, Compositions and Methods of optochemical control of mTOR signaling and mTOR-dependent autophagy, CN Patent (No. 202210749138.6, 2022), US Patent (No. 17/850,720, 2022)
  • Weiping Wang, Yang Zhou, Yafei Li, A photoresponsive delivery system based on a modified PAMAM and methods thereof, PCT Patent (No. PCT/CN2022/097804, 2022)
  • Weiping Wang, Yafei Li, Compositions and methods of macropinocytosis inhibitors to treat cancers, PCT Patent (No. PCT/CN2022/092398, 2022)
  • Weiping Wang, Kaiqi Long, A controlled drug release system of photoresponsive nanocarriers, methods of making and using thereof, PCT Patent (No. PCT/CN2021/081262, 2021), CN Patent (Application No. 202180029535.X, 2022), US Patent (Application No. 17/904,833, 2022), European Patent (Application No. 21793651.7, 2022)
  • Weiping Wang, Wen Lyv, Triplet-triplet energy transfer with light excitation at long wavelengths and methods thereof, PCT Patent (No. PCT/CN2019/101689, 2019), CN Patent (No. 201980054786.6, 2021), US Patent (No. 17/262,452, 2021).

Funding

Photoresponsive mRNA Delivery System for Esophageal Carcinoma Treatment (No. N_HKU778/23), 2024-2027, PI, NSFC/RGC Joint Research Scheme, HKD 1,184,400

Photoresponsive drug delivery systems (No. 82222903), 2023-2025, PI, NSFC Excellent Young Scientists Fund, RMB 2,000,000

Development of photoresponisve prodrug nanoparticles based on mTOR inhibitors for the treatment of skin cancer (No. 09201616), 2022-2025, PI, Health and Medical Research Fund, HKD 1,419,200

Development of near-infrared light-triggered drug delivery system, 2021-2022, PI, Karolinska Institutet’s MWLC Associate Member Programme, HKD 525,000

Low-irradiance red light-triggered drug release for the treatment of retinoblastoma (No. 27115220), PI, Early Career Scheme of Research Grants Council, 2020-2023, HKD 936,520

Development of Photo-targeted Nanocarriers for Esophageal Cancer Therapy (No. 07181936), PI, Health and Medical Research Fund, 2020-2023, HKD 1,405,630

Engineering nanomaterials for drug delivery, genome editing and bioimaging, PI, Karolinska Institutet’s MWLC Associate Member Programme, 2019-2020, HKD 525,000

Development of ultrasound-responsive polymeric nanoreactors for retinoblastoma therapy (No. 06173456), PI, Health and Medical Research Fund, 2019-2021, HKD 1,499,628

Hydrogen sulfide-responsive small-molecule nanoparticles as drug delivery carriers (No. 81803469), PI, Young Scientists Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, 2019-2021, RMB 210,000

Preparation of Self-assembled Nanodrugs (SANDs) by an Ice-template Assisted Method (No. ITS/372/17), Co-PI, Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Support Programme, 2018-2019, HKD 300,000 allocated

Photoresponsive nanoparticles inducing cellular autophagy and enhancing targeted drug delivery for cancer therapy (No. 2017A050506016), Co-PI, Guangdong-Hong Kong Technology Cooperation Funding Scheme, 2017-2019, RMB 150,000 allocated


Other Information

Lab Website: www.wanglab.org

Positions Available

PhD Students:
Outstanding applicants are encouraged to apply for the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme (HKPFS). The Fellowship provides a monthly stipend of HK$28,100 and research related travel allowance of HK$14,000/year for the awardees for 4 years. The HKPFS holders will be awarded the HKU Presidential PhD Scholarship. On top of the HKPF package, each awardee will receive HK$40,000 in Year 1; HK$20,000 per year in the remaining normative study period. Furthermore, HKU waives first-year composition fees of HK$42,100 for HKPF awardees.

Interested outstanding students please contact Prof. Wang (wangwp@hku.hk, please reference "HKPF application @ The Wang Lab" in the subject line) with an updated CV.

Visiting Students:
Interested outstanding undergraduate or graduate students from around the world please contact Prof. Wang (wangwp@hku.hk) with an updated CV for internship or exchange studies.

Postdoctoral Researchers:
One Postdoctoral Fellow position is available at Prof. Wang's lab. Applicants are expected to have an excellent track record with strong expertise and experimental background in one of the areas/techniques including gene delivery, ocular drug delivery, photopharmacology, nanomedicine, and anticancer animal studies. The position will focus on molecular engineering for understanding biological events or solving medical problems.

The qualified applicant must be highly motivated, creative, energetic and have an interest in applying novel technologies for biomedical applications. Those interested please contact Prof. Wang (wangwp@hku.hk, please reference "Postdoc application @ The Wang Lab" in the subject line) with an updated CV.

A highly competitive salary commensurate with qualifications and experience will be offered, in addition to annual leave and medical benefits.

**We would like to thank all applicants in advance and regret that only shortlisted candidates will be notified.


Office

2/F, 21 Sassoon Road, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, Laboratory Block, Faculty of Medicine Building, Hong Kong SAR, China.