Jenny Zhang (chemist)

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Jenny Zhang
Born
Jenny Zhenqi Zhang [1]
Alma mater University of Sydney
Awards RSC Felix Franks Biotechnology Medal, 2020
Scientific career
Institutions University of Sydney
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
University of Cambridge
Thesis Enhancing the Tumour Penetration of Anti-Cancer Platinum Complexes  (2011)
Doctoral advisor Trevor Hambley [2]
Website www.ch.cam.ac.uk/group/zhang/person/jz366

Jenny Zhenqi Zhang is a Chinese-Australian chemist and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council David Phillips Research Fellow of the Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, where she is also a Fellow of Corpus Christi College (2019-present). She was awarded the 2020 Royal Society of Chemistry Felix Franks Biotechnology Medal for her research into re-wiring photosynthesis to provide sustainable fuel sources. [3]

Contents

Early life and education

Zhang was born in China, and moved to Gosford, Australia at age eight. [4] [5] She credits her mother's stories explaining the scientific basis of various phenomena with stimulating her interest in science. [6] She moved to Sydney to attend the University of Sydney, where she completed a Bachelor of Science (Advanced) in 2007 and a PhD in Chemistry under the supervision of Professor Trevor Hambley in 2011. [7] [8] During her PhD, Zhang also briefly worked at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. [9]

Career and research

Zhang's doctoral research was in the area of bioinorganic chemistry, [10] and she worked on the development of a platinum-based library of chemotherapeutic candidates featuring anthraquinone ligands and redox activity. This involved using a variety of imaging techniques (including those based on synchrotron radiation) to study the biological distributions and metabolism of the chemotherapeutics in 3D solid tumour models, [11] [12] [13] and synthetic strategies to generate new examples of such complexes. [14]

Zhang sought a change in research field following her PhD, [15] and in 2013 she joined the group of Professor Erwin Reisner at the University of Cambridge as a postdoctoral fellow after receiving a Marie Skłodowska-Curie International Fellowship, [16] also becoming a Research Associate of St John's College. [17] This brought her into sustainability research, in particular artificial photosynthesis. [18] [19] Her postdoctoral research involved developing ways to wire oxidoreductases to electrodes and use photosynthesis to generate a sustainable biofuel, especially photosystem II. [20] [21] [22]

In 2018, Zhang was awarded a BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship to start her own, independent research group in the Department of Chemistry at Cambridge. [23] [24] In her independent career, she has continued to work on the re-wiring of photosynthesis but now focuses on doing so in live cells. [25] [26] She also became a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, where she is now Director of Studies in Natural Sciences Chemistry. [27] Zhang was recognised for her contributions to semi-artificial photosynthesis with the award of the Felix Franks Biotechnology Medal from the RSC in 2020. [28]

References

  1. ↑ Mersch, Dirk; Lee, Chong-Yong; Zhang, Jenny Zhenqi; Brinkert, Katharina; Fontecilla-Camps, Juan C.; Rutherford, A. William; Reisner, Erwin (8 July 2015). "Wiring of Photosystem II to Hydrogenase for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting". Journal of the American Chemical Society . 137 (26): 8541–8549. Bibcode:2015JAChS.137.8541M. doi: 10.1021/jacs.5b03737 . ISSN   0002-7863. PMID   26046591.
  2. ↑ "Dr Jenny Zhang Fellow in Chemistry" (PDF). The Pelican, Corpus Christi College . No. 31. 2019. p. 13. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  3. ↑ "Biotechnology Group Awards Felix Franks Biotechnology Medal". Royal Society of Chemistry . Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  4. ↑ University of Cambridge Department of Chemistry (15 June 2020). "Dr Jenny Zhang - Replicating photosynthesis through electro-chemistry". YouTube . Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  5. ↑ "Dr Jenny Zhang Fellow in Chemistry" (PDF). The Pelican, Corpus Christi College . No. 31. 2019. p. 13. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  6. ↑ "Jenny Zhang | Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry". www.ch.cam.ac.uk. Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry. May 2018. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  7. ↑ "ORCID: Jenny Zhang". orcid.org. ORCID . Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  8. ↑ "Dr Jenny Zhang Fellow in Chemistry" (PDF). The Pelican, Corpus Christi College . No. 31. 2019. p. 13. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  9. ↑ "Dr Jenny Zhang | The Zhang Group". www.ch.cam.ac.uk. Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry . Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  10. ↑ "Dr Jenny Zhang | The Zhang Group". www.ch.cam.ac.uk. Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry . Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  11. ↑ "Jenny Zhang | Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry". www.ch.cam.ac.uk. Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry. May 2018. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  12. ↑ Zhang, Jenny Z.; Bryce, Nicole S.; Siegele, Rainer; Carter, Elizabeth A.; Paterson, David; de Jonge, Martin D.; Howard, Daryl L.; Ryan, Chris G.; Hambley, Trevor W. (21 August 2012). "The use of spectroscopic imaging and mapping techniques in the characterisation and study of DLD-1 cell spheroid tumour models" . Integrative Biology . 4 (9): 1072–1080. doi:10.1039/c2ib20121f. PMID   22858723 . Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  13. ↑ Zhang, Jenny Z.; Bryce, Nicole S.; Lanzirotti, Antonio; Chen, Catherine K. J.; Paterson, David; de Jonge, Martin D.; Howard, Daryl L.; Hambley, Trevor W. (2012). "Getting to the core of platinum drug bio-distributions: the penetration of anti-cancer platinum complexes into spheroid tumour models". Metallomics . 4 (11): 1209–1217. doi: 10.1039/c2mt20168b . PMID   23086354.
  14. ↑ Zhang, Jenny Z.; Bonnitcha, Paul; Wexselblatt, Ezequiel; Klein, Alice V.; Najajreh, Yousef; Gibson, Dan; Hambley, Trevor W. (28 January 2013). "Facile Preparation of Mono-, Di- and Mixed-Carboxylato Platinum(IV) Complexes for Versatile Anticancer Prodrug Design" . Chemistry - A European Journal . 19 (5): 1672–1676. doi:10.1002/chem.201203159. PMID   23255183 . Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  15. ↑ Richards, Victoria (1 May 2020). "The chemical ladies". Communications Chemistry . 3 (1): 54. Bibcode:2020CmChe...3...54R. doi: 10.1038/s42004-020-0296-z . ISSN   2399-3669. PMC   9814599 . PMID   36703420. S2CID   217168663.
  16. ↑ "Dr Jenny Zhang Fellow in Chemistry" (PDF). The Pelican, Corpus Christi College . No. 31. 2019. p. 13. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  17. ↑ "Dr Jenny Zhang to set up independent research group investigating renewable energy generation by biofilms | StJohns". www.joh.cam.ac.uk. St John's College, Cambridge. 18 January 2018. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  18. ↑ "Dr Jenny Zhang | The Zhang Group". www.ch.cam.ac.uk. Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry . Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  19. ↑ "Jenny Zhang | Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry". www.ch.cam.ac.uk. Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry. May 2018. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  20. ↑ Zhang, Jenny Z.; Reisner, Erwin (July 2020). "Author Correction: Advancing photosystem II photoelectrochemistry for semi-artificial photosynthesis". Nature Reviews Chemistry . 4 (7): 381. doi: 10.1038/s41570-020-0193-0 . ISSN   2397-3358. S2CID   218605705.
  21. ↑ Kornienko, Nikolay; Zhang, Jenny Z.; Sokol, Katarzyna P.; Lamaison, Sarah; Fantuzzi, Andrea; van Grondelle, Rienk; Rutherford, A. William; Reisner, Erwin (26 December 2018). "Oxygenic Photoreactivity in Photosystem II Studied by Rotating Ring Disk Electrochemistry". Journal of the American Chemical Society . 140 (51): 17923–17931. Bibcode:2018JAChS.14017923K. doi:10.1021/jacs.8b08784. PMC   6311681 . PMID   30188698. S2CID   52171045.
  22. ↑ Zhang, Jenny Z.; Bombelli, Paolo; Sokol, Katarzyna P.; Fantuzzi, Andrea; Rutherford, A. William; Howe, Christopher J.; Reisner, Erwin (10 January 2018). "Photoelectrochemistry of Photosystem II in Vitro vs in Vivo". Journal of the American Chemical Society . 140 (1): 6–9. Bibcode:2018JAChS.140....6Z. doi:10.1021/jacs.7b08563. ISSN   0002-7863. PMC   5765535 . PMID   28915035. S2CID   34100212.
  23. ↑ "David Phillips fellows". bbsrc.ukri.org. Archived from the original on 10 November 2021. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  24. ↑ "Dr Jenny Zhang". GapSummit 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  25. ↑ Wey, Laura T.; Lawrence, Joshua M.; Chen, Xiaolong; Clark, Robert; Lea-Smith, David J.; Zhang, Jenny Z.; Howe, Christopher J. (1 November 2021). "A biophotoelectrochemical approach to unravelling the role of cyanobacterial cell structures in exoelectrogenesis". Electrochimica Acta . 395: 139214. doi:10.1016/j.electacta.2021.139214. ISSN   0013-4686 . Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  26. ↑ Clifford, Eleanor R.; Bradley, Robert W.; Wey, Laura T.; Lawrence, Joshua M.; Chen, Xiaolong; Howe, Christopher J.; Zhang, Jenny Z. (11 March 2021). "Phenazines as model low-midpoint potential electron shuttles for photosynthetic bioelectrochemical systems". Chemical Science . 12 (9): 3328–3338. doi:10.1039/D0SC05655C. ISSN   2041-6539. PMC   8179378 . PMID   34164103.
  27. ↑ "Dr Jenny Zhang". Corpus Christi College University of Cambridge. Corpus Christi College. 10 December 2018. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  28. ↑ "Zhang recognised for re-wiring photosynthesis research | Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry". www.ch.cam.ac.uk. Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry . Retrieved 10 November 2021.
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