Dr. Zhao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the University of Alabama. He received his PhD degree in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the University of Akron in 2013. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan during 2013–2016 and Harvard Medical School during 2016–2018. He joined the University of Alabama as an Assistant Professor as of July 2018. His research focuses on the polymer drug delivery systems in particular for small hydrophilic molecules and polymer scaffolds for tissue engineering. His work has been broadcasted in Boston 25 News and highlighted in 30+ national and international news agencies. His laboratory (https://zhaolab.ua.edu) is currently supported by the NIH Research Enhancement Award, University of Alabama RGC Level 1 Award, Alabama Transportation Institute grant, and U.S. Department of Education GAANN grant.
Representative Publications
- Delivery of local anesthetics by a self-assembled supramolecular system mimicking their interactions with a sodium channel, T. Ji, Y. Li, X. Deng, A. Rwei, A. Offen, S. Hall, W. Zhang, C. Zhao, M. Manisha, D. Kohane. Nat. Biomed. Eng., 1-11, 2021.
- Applications of Capillary Action in Drug Delivery, X. Li, Y. Zhao, C. Zhao. iScience, 24 (7), 2021.
- Light-triggered release of conventional local anesthetics from a macromolecular prodrug for on-demand local anesthesia, W. Zhang, T. Ji, Y. Li, Y. Zheng, M. Manisha, C. Zhao, A. Liu, D. Kohane. Nat. Commun., 11 (1):1-8, 2020.
- Biodegradable nanofibrous temperature-responsive gelling microspheres for heart regeneration, C. Zhao, S. Tian, Q. H. Liu, K. M. Xiu, L,L. Lei, Z. Wang, P. X. Ma. Adv. Funct. Mater. 30 (21):2000776, 2020.
- Polymer-tetrodotoxin conjugates to prolonged duration local anesthesia with minimal toxicity, C. Zhao, A. Liu, C. Santamaria, A. Shomorony, T. Ji, T. Wei, R. Yang, D. Kohane. Nat. Commun., 10 (1):1-14, 2019
Research Interests
The Zhao laboratory develops novel polymeric biomaterials for various biomedical applications, with emphasis on drug delivery and tissue engineering. The projects are driven by developing new technologies for the treatment of specific diseases.
