Stem cell researcher Weian Zhao tapped for prestigious TR35 list
The assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences, a member of the Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center, is deemed one of the world’s top 35 innovators under the age of 35.
Weian Zhao, UCI assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences and a member of the Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center, has been recognized by MIT’s Technology Review as a TR35 honoree for 2012. The TR35 is the magazine’s annual list of the world’s top 35 innovators under the age of 35, spanning biotechnology, computer and electronics hardware and software, energy, the Web and nanotechnology, among other emerging fields. Previous selectees include the founders of Tesla Motorcars, Google and Facebook. Zhao, 32, was honored for his breakthrough work creating sensors that are attached to stem cells, letting researchers track how the cells migrate through living tissue. Zhao’s sensor technology could aid the development of more effective and safer drug delivery systems using stem cells for such treatments as chemotherapy. Zhao joined the UCI faculty last year after completing a postdoctoral research fellowship at Harvard University. He is the second UCI scientist to earn TR35 kudos; biomedical engineer Michelle Khine made the list in 2009.