Jenny Zhang
Born
Jenny Zhenqi Zhang[1]
Alma materUniversity of Sydney
AwardsRSC Felix Franks Biotechnology Medal, 2020
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Sydney
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
University of Cambridge
ThesisEnhancing the Tumour Penetration of Anti-Cancer Platinum Complexes (2011)
Doctoral advisorTrevor Hambley[2]
Websitewww.ch.cam.ac.uk/group/zhang/person/jz366

Jenny Zhenqi Zhang is a Chinese-Australian chemist and BBSRC 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 RSC Felix Franks Biotechnology Medal for her research into re-wiring photosynthesis to provide sustainable fuel sources.[3]

Early life and education

Zhang was born in China, and moved to Gosford on the Central Coast (New South Wales), 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. 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. 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. 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. doi:10.1021/jacs.7b08563. ISSN 0002-7863. PMC 5765535. PMID 28915035. S2CID 34100212.
  23. ↑ "David Phillips fellows". bbsrc.ukri.org. 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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