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College of Pharmacy

College of Pharmacy

Faculty Profile

gao-wei.jpgWei Gao

Assistant Professor of Pharmacology
Department of Pharmacological and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Office: 
University of Houston College of Pharmacy
Health 2, Room 5018
4349 Martin Luther King Boulevard
Houston, TX 77204-5037

Contact: wgao21@central.uh.edu 

Research:

My research focuses on developing advanced nanomedicine and nanovaccine strategies to modulate B cells and myeloid cells in cancer and other diseases, including:
  • Developing Nanovaccine to enhance B cell antigen presentation to achieve durable anticancer efficacy.
  • Developing Nanomedicines to overcome STING pathway resistance by eliminating regulatory B cells (Bregs) for long-term efficacy in pancreatic cancer.
  • Developing Albumin-Based Nanoformulations of Immunomodulators targeting the lymphatic system, particularly B cells and macrophages, to combat various immune diseases.
  • B.S., School of Life Science and Technology, China Pharmaceutical University
  • Master, University of Calabria, School of Pharmacy, Italy
  • M.S. in Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmaceutical Science, China Pharmaceutical University
  • Ph.D in Pharmaceutics, School of Pharmaceutical Science, Peking University Health Science Center
  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow, College of Pharmacy, University of Michigan, 2017-2021 
  • Assistant Research Scientist, College of Pharmacy, University of Michigan, 2022-2024

Google Scholar Profile
ORCID Profile
  • Yudong Song, Luke Bugada, Ruiting Li, Hongxiang Hu, Luchen Zhang, Chengyi Li, Hebao Yuan, Fei Wen, Wei Gao*, and Duxin Sun*. Albumin nanoparticle of PI3Kγ inhibitor and paclitaxel combined with α-PD-1 induces tumor remission in mouse metastatic breast. Science Translational Medicine, 2022 Vol 14, Issue 643, DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abl3649
  • Chengyi Li, Shuai Mao, Hongyi Zhao, Miao He, Meilin Wang, Zhongwei Liu, Hanning Wen, Zhixin Yu, Bo Wen, Djibo Mahamadou, Jinsong Tao, Yingzi Bu, Wei Gao, Duxin Sun. Dual Targeting of STING and PI3Kγ Eliminates Regulatory B Cells to Overcome STING Resistance for Pancreatic Cancer Immunotherapy. Nature Cancer, 2024, revision. Preprint is available at bioRxiv. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.14.580378v1
  • Xin Luan, Hebao Yuan, Yudong Song, Hongxiang Hu, Bo Wen, Miao He, Huixia Zhang, Yan Li, Feng Li, Pan Shu, Joseph P Burnett, Nathan Truchan, Maria Palmisano, Manjunath P Pai, Simon Zhou*, Wei Gao*, Duxin Sun*. Reappraisal of anticancer nanomedicine design criteria in three types of preclinical cancer models for better clinical translation, 275: 120910, 2021.
  • Chengyi Li, Ryan Clauson, Luke F. Bugada, Bing He, Hongwei Chen, Hongxiang Hu, Polina Chuikov, Ke Fang, Brett D. Hill, Syed M. Rizvi, Yudong Song, Kai Sun, Daniel Huynh, Marilia Cascalho, Lana Garmire, Leo Yu Lei, Irina Grigorova, Fei Wen, Wei Gao*, Duxin Sun*. Antigen-Clustered Nanovaccine Achieves Long-Term Tumor Remission by Promoting B/CD4 T Cells Crosstalk, ACSnano, 2024, 18, 9584-9604
  • Wei Gao*, Hongxiang Hu, Lipeng Dai, Miao He, Hebao Yuan, Huixia Zhang, Jinhui Liao, Bo Wen, Yan Li, Maria Palmisano, Mohamed Dit Mady Traore, Simon Zhou, Duxin Sun*. Structure-Tissue Exposure/Selectivity Relationship (STR) Correlates with Clinical Efficacy/Safety. Acta Pharmaceutic Sinica B, 2021,12 (5), 2462-2478.
  • Duxin Sun*, Simon Zhou, Wei Gao. What Went Wrong with Anticancer Nanomedicine Design and How to Make It Right. ACS Nano. 2020 Oct 27;14(10):12281-12290.
  • Duxin Sun*, Wei Gao, Hongxiang Hu, Simon Zhou. Why 90% of Clinical Drug Development Fails and How to Improve It? Acta Pharmaceutic Sinica B, 2022, 12, 304.
  • Guihua Ye, Yajun Jiang, Xiaoying Yang, Hongxiang Hu, Beibei Wang, Lu Sun, Victor C. Yang, Duxin Sun, and Wei Gao*. Smart Nanoparticles Undergo Phase Transition for Enhanced Cellular Uptake and Subsequent Intracellular Drug Release in a Tumor Microenvironment, ACS Applied Materials& Interfaces. 10 (1): 278-289, 2018.
  • Wei Gao, Xiucong Yang, Zhiqiang Lin, Bing He, Dong Mei, Dan Wang, Haoran Zhang, Hua Zhang, Wenbing Dai, Xueqing Wang, Qiang Zhang*. The use of electronic-neutral penetrating peptides cyclosporin A to deliver pro-apoptotic peptide: a possibly better choice than positively charged TAT, Journal of Controlled Release, 261:174-186,2017.
  • Yajun Jiang, Zhaoyang Guo, Jing Fang, Beibei Wang, Zhiqiang Chen, Yan Chen, Ning Zhang, Xiaoying Yang*, Wei Gao*. A multi-functionalized nanocomposite constructed by gold nanorod core with triple-layer coating to combat multidrug resistant colorectal cancer. Materials Science and Engineering: C. 107: 110224, 2020.
  • Beibei Wang, Sunyi Wu, Zhiqiang Lin, Yajun Jiang, Yan Chen, Zhe-Sheng Chen, Xiaoying Yang, Wei Gao*. A personalized and long-acting local therapeutic platform combining photothermal therapy and chemotherapy for the treatment of multidrug-resistant colon tumor. International Journal of Nanomedicine, 13: 8411-8427, 2018.
  • Wei Gao*, Guihua Ye, Xiaochuan Duan, Xiaoying Yang, Victor C. Yang. Transferrin receptor-targeted pH sensitive micellar system for diminution of drug resistance and targetable delivery in multidrug-resistant breast cancer, International Journal of Nanomedicine, 12: 1047-1064, 2017.
  • Wei Gao, Xiucong Yang, Zhiqiang Lin, Shanyun Gao, Bing He, Qiang Zhang. The Use of a Hydrophobic Binding Peptide Modified Lipid Nanocarrier Improving Tumor Distribution and Antitumor Efficacy, Journal of Biomedical Nanotechnology, 12: 1-16, 2016.
  • Xinru Li, Xiucong Yang, Zhiqiang Lin, Qiang Zhang, and Wei Gao*, A folate modified pH sensitive targeted polymeric micelle alleviated systemic toxicity of doxorubicin (DOX) in multi-drug resistant tumor bearing mice, European Journal of Pharmaceutical Science, 76: 95-101, 2015.
  • Wei Gao, Zhiqiang Lin, Meiwan Chen, Xiucong Yang, Zheng Cui, Xiaofei Zhang, Lan Yuan, Qiang Zhang*, The co-delivery of a low-dose P-glycoprotein inhibitor with doxorubicin sterically stabilized liposomes against breast cancer with low P-glycoprotein expression, International Journal of Nanomedicine, 7, 1-13, 2014.
  • NIH R01 CA285790-01 (2024-2029), Wei Gao (MPI).
  • NIH Study section: 2025/01 ZCA1 TCRB-D(J1)R Cancer Immunoprevention Network.
  • Member, American Association for Cancer Research; Controlled Release Society; American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists; Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer