Feng Qian Ph.D.

Prof. Feng Qian is a Professor and Dean of the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Tsinghua University. Prof. Qian graduated from Tsinghua University with B.S. and M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering, and received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University in the U.S. Afterwards, Prof. Qian worked as a Principal Scientist at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, engaged in novel drug delivery technologies, new drug development, and academic collaborations. Prof. Qian returned to Tsinghua in 2012 and has been working as a professor of pharmaceutical sciences since then. Prof. Qian's current research interests include: 1) multiple drug delivery technologies and novel drug design for pancreatic cancer; 2) protein drug design and delivery for retinal diseases. 3）Physical pharmaceutics and biopharmaceutics of a wide range of drugs. Prof. Qian's lab focuses on exploring the important biological mechanisms associated with drug delivery, the structure of various

Main Research Fields

(1) Drug design and delivery against pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is known as the "king of cancers" and there is still a serious lack of effective therapeutic agents. The unique physiology, tumor biology, and tumor immune microenvironment of pancreatic cancer contribute to this dilemma. We are committed to understanding and exploiting the mechanisms of albumin transport and metabolism in pancreatic cancer, in order to design new drugs and drug delivery strategies for pancreatic cancer treatment. At the same time, we also explore the possibility of using some natural products with unique pharmacological mechanisms for pancreatic cancer therapy.

(2) Drug design and delivery for retinal diseases

As the population continues to age, blinding retinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, diabetic macular edema, and glaucoma continue to climb. The most effective mode of drug delivery for these fundus diseases is intravitreal injection. However, the molecular design and delivery of drugs greatly affects the pharmacological activity, potency, injectability, long-term stability, and other key characteristics of such drugs, thereby greatly affecting efficacy, compliance, and ultimately control of disease progression. We strive to understand the relationship between structure and function of drug targets, explore the influence of protein drug structure on their solution and pharmacokinetic properties, based on which we are engineering novel protein drugs for the efficient treatment of multiple fundus diseases.

(3) Physical pharmaceutics and biopharmaceutics of various types of drugs

As new drug types continue to evolve and iterate, we continue to study drug-drug, drug-excipient, and formulation-bio-tissue interactions for various classes of drugs, such as poorly soluble and difficult-to-absorb (BCS 2/3/4 “beyond-rule-of-five” drugs, including various small molecules, peptides, etc.), antibodies, and fusion proteins. Furthermore, we investiga

Selected Publications

1. Dou L, Liu H., Wang K, Liu J, Liu L, Ye J, Wang R, Deng H, Qian F.*; Albumin binding revitalizes NQO1 bioactivatable drugs as novel therapeutics for pancreatic cancer, Journal of Controlled Release, 2022 Aug 4;349:876-889. doi: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2022.07.033.

2. Kong W, Liu Z, Sun M, Liu H, Kong C, Ma J, Wang R, Qian F.*; Synergistic Autophagy Blockade and VDR Signaling Activation Enhance Stellate Cell Reprogramming in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma, Cancer Letters. 2022 Jul 28;539:215718. doi: 10.1016/j.canlet.2022.215718. Epub 2022 May 5.

3. Fang Yuan, Mengnan Sun, Zhengsheng Liu, Huiqin Liu, Weijian Kong, Rui Wang, Qian F*, Macropinocytic dextran facilitates KRAS-targeted delivery while reducing drug-induced tumor immunity depletion in pancreatic cancer. Theranostics. 2022; 12(3): 1061-1073. doi: 10.7150/thno.65299

4. Liu H; Yu S; Qian F*, Opportunities and delusions regarding drug delivery targeting pancreatic cancer-associated fibroblasts, Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, 2021 May;172:37-51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addr.2021.02.012

5. Zhou T,; Qian F.*; Adenosine Triphosphate-Induced Rapid Liquid–Liquid Phase Separation of a Model IgG1 mAb, Mol. Pharmaceutics. 2021 18 (1), 267-274， DOI: 10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.0c00905

6. Mi W; Chen H; Zhu A, Zhang T, Qian F*, Melting point prediction of organic molecules by deciphering the chemical structure into a natural language, Chemical Communications, 2021, 57, 2633 – 2636

7. Yuan F; Sun M; Liu H; Qian, F.*, Albumin-conjugated drug is irresistible by single gene mutation of endocytic system: verification by genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 loss-of function screens, Journal of Controlled Release, Vol 323, 10 July 2020, Pages 311-320

8. Hu C.; Liu Z.; Liu C.; Zhang Y.; Fan H.; Qian F.*; Improvement of Antialveolar Echinococcosis Efficacy of Albendazole by a Novel Nanocrystalline Formulation with Enhanced Oral Bioavailability, ACS Infect. Dis. 2020, 6, 5, 802–810

9. Kong C; Li Y; Liu Z; Ye J; Wang Z; Zhang L; Kong W.; Liu H.; Liu C.; Pang H.; Hu Z.; Gao J.; and Qian, F*, Targeting the Oncogene KRAS Mutant Pancreatic Cancer by Synergistic Blocking of Lysosomal Acidification and Rapid Drug Release, ACS Nano, DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.8b08246, March 26, 2019.

10. Liu H; Sun M; Liu Z; Kong C; Kong W; Ye J; Gong J; Huang D; Qian, F.*, KRAS-enhanced macropinocytosis and reduced FcRn-mediated recycling sensitize pancreatic cancer to albumin-conjugated drugs, Journal of Controlled Release, Vol 296, 28 February 2019, Pages 40-53.