Biography

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE and POSITIONS HELD

2021-present  Professor, School of Pharmacy, Wuhan University

2015-2021    Assistant Scientist, Division of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

2014-2015    Postdoctoral Research Associate under the guidance of Professor Tim S. Bugni, Division of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

2013-2014    Postdoctoral Fellow under the guidance of Professor Frank Schweizer, University of Manitoba, Canada

2012-2013    Assistant Professor, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

2007-2012   Graduate Research Assistant with Professor Yongsheng Che, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.

EDUCATION

2007-2012   Ph.D. in Microbiology, Natural product chemistry, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.

2003-2007   B.S. in Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, Jilin University, China.

Research

Diseases caused by infectious pathogens, particularly with multi-drug resistant properties, have become a major threat to public health around the world, thus new antibiotics with novel structures and mode of actions are urgently needed. Natural products have been a valuable source of therapeutics particularly in the areas of infectious disease. However, discovering novel natural products has become significantly more difficult. To overcome these difficulties, we are utilizing under-explored niches for bacterial cultivation and developing multi-omics approaches to enable discovery of novel natural products. The overarching goal of our long-term research plan is to identify novel therapeutic leads with unique mode of action, therefore lead to the next generation of antimicrobial drugs targeting MDR pathogens

Representative  Publications

1. Zhang, F.;^# Zhao, M.;^# Braun, D. R.; Ericksen, S. S.; Piotrowski, J. S.; Nelson, J.; Peng, J.; Ananiev, G. E.; Chanana, S.; Barns, K.; Fossen, J.; Sanchez, H.; Chevrette, M. G.; Guzei, I. A., Zhao, C.; Guo, L.; Tang, W.; Currie, C. R.; Rajski, S. R.; Audhya, A.; Andes, D. R.^*; Bugni, T. S.^* A marine microbiome antifungal targets urgent-threat drug-resistant fungi. Science 2020, 370, 974–978.

2. Zhao, M.;^# Zhang, F.;^# Zarnowski, R.; Barns, K.; Jones, R.  Fossen, J.; Sanchez, H.; Rajski, S. R.; Audhya, A.; Bugni, T. S.^*; Andes, D. R.^* Turbinmicin inhibits Candida biofilm growth by disrupting fungal vesicle-mediated trafficking. J. Clin. Invest. 2021, 131, e145123.

3. Zhang, F.; Ramos Alvarenga, R. F.; Throckmorton, K.; Chanana, S.; Braun, D. R.; Fossen, J.; Zhao, M.; McCrone, S.; Harper, M. K.; Rajski, S. R.; Rose, W. E.; Andes, D. R.; Thomas, M. G.; Bugni, T. S. ^* Genome Mining and Metabolomics Unveil Pseudonochelin, an Siderophore Containing 5-Aminosalicylate from a Marine-Derived Pseudonocardia sp. Bacterium. Org. Lett. 2022, 24, 3998–4002.

4. Zhang, F.; Wyche, T. P.; Zhu, Y.; Braun, D. R.; Yan, J. –X.; Chanana, S.; Ge, Y.; Guzei, I. A.; Chevrette, M. G.; Currie, C. R.;, Thomas, M. G.; Rajski, S. R.; Bugni, T. S.^* MS-derived isotopic fine structure reveals forazoline A as a thioketone-containing marine-derived natural product. Org. Lett. 2020, 22, 1275–1279.

5. Zhang, F.; Braun, D. R.; Chanana, S.; Rajski, S. R.; Bugni, T. S.^* Phallusialides A-E, pyrrole-derived alkaloids discovered from a marine-derived Micromonospora sp. bacterium using MS-based metabolomics approaches. J. Nat. Prod. 2019, 82, 3432–3439.

6. Zhang, F.; Braun, D. R.; Rajski, S. R.; DeMaria, D.; Bugni, T. S.^* Enhypyrazinones A and B, pyrazinone natural products from a marine-derived myxobacterium Enhygromyxa sp. Mar. Drugs. 2019, 17, 698.

7. Zhang, F.; Braun, D. R.; Ananiev, G. E.; Hoffmann, F. M.; Tsai, I. W.; Rajski, S. R.; Bugni, T. S.^* Biemamides A-E, inhibitors of the TGF-β pathway that block the epithelial to mesenchymal transition. Org. Lett. 2018, 20, 5529–5532.

8. Zhang, F.; Barns, K.; Hoffmann, F. M.; Braun, D. R.; Andes, D. R.; Bugni, T. S.^* Thalassosamide, a siderophore discovered from the marine-derived bacterium Thalassospira profundimaris. J. Nat. Prod. 2017, 80, 2551–2555.

9. Zhang, F.; Adnani, N.; Vazquez-Rivera, E.; Braun, D. R.; Tonelli, M.; Andes, D. R.; Bugni, T. S.^* Application of 3D NMR for structure determination of peptide natural products. J. Org. Chem. 2015, 80, 8713–8719.