Bio
Dr. Zhong is a professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences of School of Pharmacy at the University of Connecticut (UConn). He received his B.Sc. degree in Biology from Peking University, Beijing, China and received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Wageningen University, The Netherlands. He was trained as a postdoctoral fellow in Human Genetics at the Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Zhong was an Assistant and Associate Professor at the University of Kansas Medical Center before he joined UConn in 2012. He is a member of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) and the International Society for the Study of Xenobiotics (ISSX) as well as 5 other scientific societies. He has served as a Councilor (2009-2012) and Chair (2021-2022) of the Division for Drug Metabolism and Disposition (DDMD) of ASPET. He serves as a member of the International Advisory Committee of Microsomes and Drug Oxidations (MDO). He currently serves on editorial boards for 6 journals, including as Associate Editor and Reviews Editor of Drug Metabolism and Disposition, and as Section Editor of Noncoding RNA. He also serves as an ad hoc reviewer on several NIH study sections. He has been funded by NIH R35, R01, and P20 grants in the last 20 years. Dr. Zhong is the author of more than 130 articles. Research in Dr. Zhong’s laboratory mainly focuses on drug metabolism, pharmacogenetics, pharmacoepigenetics, nucleic acid therapeutics, and personalized medicine. He also provides lectures in the courses of “Principle of Drug Action”, “Introduction of Pharmaceutics”, “Drug Discovery and Development”, “Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine”, “Advance Pharmacology”, “Advance Toxicology”, and “Principle of Safety Evaluation” for UConn Pharm.D. and Ph.D. students.

Bio
Dr. Zhang is a professor of the School of Basic Medical Sciences of Zhengzhou University. She is a recipient of the prestigious Special Government Allowance from China's State Council. She has received awards including Outstanding Youth Funding of Henan Province, Science and Technology Innovation Outstanding Talent of Henan Province, and the National May Day Women's Model. Dr. Zhang serves as a board member of the Chinese Pharmacological Society and as a member of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET). She has been funded by six research grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and has obtained 3 Second-Class Prizes for the Technological Progress Award of Henan Province. She has published over 260 research papers in journals, including Molecular Cell, Science Advances, Cancer Research, Biochemical Pharmacology, the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (JPET), and Drug Metabolism and Disposition (DMD). Dr. Zhang’s research interests mainly focus on drug metabolism, pharmacogenetics and pharmacoepigenetics, and precision medicine. Dr. Zhang recently focused on revealing epigenetic mechanisms (eg. lncRNA and histone modification, RNA modification) of inter-individual differences in CYP3A4-mediated drug metabolism and drug toxicity.

Bio
Dr. Xiaofei Wang earned her Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the School of Basic Medical Sciences of Zhengzhou University in 2022. She currently serves as a junior faculty member at the Academy of Medical Sciences of Zhengzhou University, working on Professor Lirong Zhang's research team. Her primary research focuses on pharmacogenomics, epigenetic regulation mechanisms of drug metabolism enzymes, and drug-induced liver injury (DILI), with a particular emphasis on the regulatory mechanisms of long non-coding RNAs on cytochrome P450 enzyme expression. Her work aims to investigate the mechanisms underlying interindividual variability in drug responses, and to develop novel strategies for the prevention and control of DILI. She has contributed to multiple peer-reviewed publications.

Bio
Jing Jin is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy, working under the mentorship of Dr. Xiao-bo Zhong. Her research focuses on drug metabolism, pharmacogenomics, and nuclear receptor regulation, with a particular emphasis on the molecular mechanisms controlling cytochrome P450 enzyme expression and function. Jing has contributed to multiple peer-reviewed publications and presentations at national conferences. Her work aims to improve the understanding of interindividual variability in drug response, with potential applications in personalized medicine and safer drug development.