Dr. Zhao’s research aims to elucidate and eventually control the fate of transplanted stem cells and to develop novel miniaturized devices for disease diagnosis and monitoring.
Zhao’s lab is working on a way to rapidly create vast libraries of aptamers that bind to almost any molecule for use in basic research but also to improve the drug discovery process. At present, it suffers because what happens in cell cultures rarely duplicates what happens in living animals, sometimes misleading researchers and wasting time. Zhao’s sensor will allow scientists instead to immediately observe what the drug does inside animals, which can help speed a promising drug toward human trials.
Zhao is also currently working toward getting his stem-cell-based sensors to bind to various cancer markers found in whole blood, in the hope of developing a faster, less expensive, and potentially more accurate diagnostic tool that could even in many cases eliminate the need for a biopsy.