ZHANG Chongjing
Principal Investigator
Research in my lab focuses on the development of activity-based probes, firstly, for target profiling of bioactive products to illustrate their mode of actions. Secondly, for accurate high-throughput screening to identify bioactive products (compounds). Research efforts will be concentrated on the design and synthesis of activity-based probes, setting up high-throughput screening assays for early-stage drug discovery, late-stage modification of bioactive natural products, profiling and verifying their protein targets via activity-based protein profiling.
Ultimately, the goal is to provide new chemical molecules to treat diseases, to understand the mode of action of bioactive natural products, and to identify new druggable targets.
1. Chen, L.; Wang, H.; Ji, T.-F.*; Zhang, C.-J.* Chemoproteomics-based target profiling of sinomenine reveals multiple protein regulators of inflammation. Chem. Commun., 2021, 57, 5981-5984.
2. Zhao, C.; Liu, T.; Xu, M.; Lin, H.; Zhang, C.-J.* A fundamental study on the fluorescence-quenching effect of nitro groups in tetraphenylethene AIE dyes with electron-withdrawing groups. Chin. Chem. Lett . 2021, 32 , 1925-1928.
3. Wei, C.; Zhao, C.; Liu, S.; Zhao, J.; Ye, Z; Wang, H.*; Yu, S.*; Zhang, C.-J.* Activity-based protein profiling reveals thatsecondary-carbon-centered radicals of synthetic 1,2,4-trioxolanes are predominately responsible for modification of protein targets in malaria parasites. Chem. Commun., 2019, 55 , 9535.
4. Lin, H.; Yang, W.-Q; Ye, Z; Zhang, C.-J*. Identification of Potent Caspase-8 Inhibitors from a Library of Fluorescent Natural Products Screened by an AIEgen-based Light-up Probe. ChemBioChem , 2019, 20 , 1292 – 1296. (Invited paper in the special issue of young ChemBio Talent).
5. Lin, H.; Yang, H.; Huang, S.; Wang, F.; Wang, D.-M.; Liu, B*.; Tang, Y.-D*.; Zhang, C.-J*., Caspase‑1 Specific Light-Up Probe with Aggregation-Induced Emission Characteristics for Inhibitor Screening of Coumarin-Originated Natural Products. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces . 2018, 10 , 12173−12180.
6. Feng, G.; Liu, J.; Zhang, C.-J*.; Liu, B*. Artemisinin and AIEgen Conjugate for Mitochondria-Targeted and Image-Guided Chemo- and Photodynamic Cancer Cell Ablation. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces . 2018, 10 , 11546−11553.
7. Yang, H.#; Wang, F.#; Zheng, J.; Lin, H.; Liu, B*.; Tang, Y.-D*.; Zhang, C.-J*. Super-quenched Molecular Probe Based on Aggregation-Induced Emission and Photoinduced Electron Transfer Mechanisms for Formaldehyde Detection in Human Serum. Chem Asian J . 2018, 13 , 1432-1437.
8. Zhang, C.-J.#; Wang, J.#*; Zhang, J.; Lee, Y. M.; Feng, G.; Lim, T. K.; Shen, H.; Lin, Q.; Liu, B*. Mechanism-Guided Design and Synthesis of Mitochondria-targeting Artemisinin Analogue with Enhanced Anticancer Activity. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed ., 2016, 55 , 13770-13774.
9. Zhang, C.-J.; Feng, G.; Xu. S.; Zhu, Z.; Lu. X.; Wu. J.; Liu, B*. Structure-dependent cis/trans Isomerization for TetraphenyletheneDerivatives: Consequences for Aggregation-Induced Emission. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed ., 2016, 55 , 6192-6196. (Selected as Very Important Paper).
10. Zhang, C.-J.#; Hu, Q.#; Feng, G.; Zhang, R.; Yuan, Y.; Liu, B*. Image-Guided Combination Chemotherapy and Photodynamic Therapy Using a Mitochondria-Targeted Molecular Probe with Aggregation-Induced Emission Characteristics. Chem. Sci ., 2015, 6 , 4580-4586.
11. Wang, J. *#; Zhang, C.-J.#; Chia, W. N.; Loh, C. C. Y.; Li, Z.; Lee, Y. Q.; Lee, Y. M.; He, Y.; Yuan, L.; Liu, M.; Liew, C. X.; Zhang, J.; Lim, T. K.; Lim, C. K.; Shen, H. M.; Tan, K. S. W. *; Lin, Q. S*. Haem-activated promiscuous targeting of artemisinin in Plasmodium falciparum. Nat. Commun , 2015, 6 , 10111.
12. Zhang, C.-J.; Tan, C. Y. J.; Ge, J.; Na, Z.; Chen, G. Y. J.; Uttamchandani, M.; Sun, H.; Yao, S. Q*. Preparation of Small-Molecule Microarrays by trans-Cyclooctene Tetrazine Ligation and Their Application in the High-Throughput Screening of Protein–Protein Interaction Inhibitors of Bromodomains. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed ., 2013, 52 , 14060-14064. (Selected as Hot Paper).
13. Yuan, Y.#; Zhang, C.-J.#; Kwok, R. T. K.; Xu, S.; Zhang, R.; Wu, J.; Tang, B. Z.; Liu, B*. Light-up Probe for Targeted and Activatable Photodynamic Therapy with Real-time In-situ Reporting of Sensitizer Activation and Therapeutic Responses. Adv. Funct. Mater , 2015, 25 , 6586-6595.
14. Yuan, Y.#; Zhang, C.-J.#; Liu, B*. A Photoactivatable AIE Polymer for Light-Controlled Gene Delivery: Concurrent Endo/Lysosomal Escape and DNA Unpacking. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed ., 2015, 54 , 11419-11423.
15. Yuan, Y.#; Zhang, C.-J.#; Gao, M.; Zhang, R.; Tang, B. Z.; Liu, B*. Specific Light-Up Bioprobe with Aggregation-Induced Emission and Activatable Photoactivity for the Targeted and Image-Guided Photodynamic Ablation of Cancer Cells. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed ., 2015, 54 , 1780-1786.
