Zhiqiang An
Professor
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
McGovern Medical School
Institute of Molecular Medicine
Dr. Zhiqiang An is Professor of Molecular Medicine, the Robert A. Welch Distinguished University Chair in Chemistry, and Director of the Texas Therapeutics Institute at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. His laboratory focuses on antibody drug resistance mechanisms, biomarkers for therapeutic antibodies, and antibody drug discovery targeting human diseases. During the last five years, more than 10 novel antibody drug leads discovered in his laboratory were licensed to seven biotech companies, and five have advanced to clinical trials. Previously, he served as Chief Scientific Officer at Epitomics, Inc. and was Director of Biologics Research at Merck Research Laboratories. He has authored over 200 journal articles and two books including the award-winning book “Therapeutic Monoclonal Antibodies: from Bench to Clinic”. He is an elected fellow of Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology (SIMB), the American Academy of Microbiology (ASM), American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Dr. An received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Kentucky and his postdoctoral training at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Research Projects
- Therapeutic monoclonal antibody drug discovery. Our group has built a comprehensive antibody drug discovery platform with a focus on antibody lead optimization technologies such as antibody phage display, deep sequencing of antibody encoding genes from individual antibody expressing B cells, affinity maturation and humanization. Currently, we have multiple antibody drug discovery projects targeting human diseases such as cancer, metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases.
- Antibodies response to viral infections and vaccination. Design of highly immunogenic vaccines that induce neutralizing antibodies against a broad range of clinical isolates is one of the approaches in developing effective viral vaccine. We have on-going projects on the design of vaccines and therapeutics antibodies for a variety of viruses such as HCMV, EBV, and coronavirus.
Education & Training
Ph.D. - University of Kentucky - 1991