Dr. Zhang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Diagnostic and Biological Sciences within the University of Minnesota's School of Dentistry. Her research program focuses on studying enveloped virus assembly and virus-cell interaction using cryo-TEM and image processing methods. Dr. Zhang has a joint position at the Characterization Facility facilitating cryo-TEM and cryo-ET experiments on biological samples and soft materials. 

Education

• Ph.D. in Structural Biology, Purdue University
• M.S. in Computer Science, Purdue University
• M.S. in Biophysics, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
• B.S. in Biophysics, Nankai University, China

Professional Background

• 2023 - Present: Associate Professor, Department of Diagnostic and Biological Sciences
• 2020 - 2023: Research Professor, Department of Diagnostic and Biological Sciences
• 2016 - 2020: Research Associate Professor, Department of Diagnostic and Biological Sciences
• 2008 - 2016: Research Assistant Professor, Department of Diagnostic and Biological Sciences, School of Dentistry
• 2004 - 2008: Associate Research Scientist, Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University
• 2002 - 2004: Assistant Research Scientist, Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University
• 2001 - 2002: Postdoctoral Research Scientist with Dr. Timothy S. Baker, Purdue University
• 1996 - 2001: Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University
• 1994 - 1996: Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University
• 1992 - 1994: Research Associate, Department of Neurobiology, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

Selected Publications

• Cui S, Murphy EA, Zhang W, Zografos A, Shen L, Bates FS, Lodge TP. (2024) Cylinders-in-Undulating-Lamellae Morphology from ABC Bottlebrush Block Terpolymers. J Am Chem Soc. PubMed PMID: 38421320.
• Talledge N, Yang H, Shi K, Coray R, Yu G, Arndt WG, Meng S, Baxter GC, Mendonça LM, Castaño-Díez D, Aihara H, Mansky LM, Zhang W (2023). HIV-2 Immature Particle Morphology Provides Insights into Gag Lattice Stability and Virus Maturation. J Mol Biol. 6;435(15):168143.  PMID: 37150290.
• Iryna A Khasabova, Sergey G Khasabov, Malcolm Johns, Joe Juliette, Aunika Zheng, Hannah Morgan, Alyssa Flippen, Kaje Allen, Mikhail Y Golovko, Svetlana A Golovko, Wei Zhang, James Marti, David Cain, Virginia S. Seybold, and Donald A. Simone (2023). Targeting cancer exosome-mediated lysophosphatidic acid signaling as a new therapeutic approach for cancer pain.  PAIN, 164(12):2684-2695. PubMed PMID: 37278638
• Yang H, Talledge N, Arndt WG, Zhang W, Mansky LM. (2022) Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 2 Capsid Protein Mutagenesis Reveals Amino Acid Residues Important for Virus Particle Assembly. J Mol Biol. 434(19):167753.  PMID: 35868362.
• Woodson M, Pajak J, Mahler BP, Zhao W, Zhang W, Arya G, White MA, Jardine PJ, Morais MC. (2021) A viral genome packaging motor transitions between cyclic and helical symmetry to translocate dsDNA. Sci Adv. 7(19):eabc1955. PMID: 33962953; PMCID: PMC8104870.
• Guefrachi ,Y., G. Sharma, D. Xu, G. Kumar, K.P. Vinter, O.A. Abdelrahman, X. Li, S. Alhassan, P.J. Dauenhauer, A. Navrotsky, W. Zhang and M. Tsapatsis (2020) Steam-Induced Coarsening of Single-Unit-Cell MFI Zeolite Nanosheets and Its Effect on External Surface Brønsted Acid Catalysis. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl.  PubMed PMID: 32115827.
• Bhatt, V., K. Shi, D.J. Salamango, N.H. Moeller, K.K. Pandey, S. Bera, T.E. Bohl, F. Kurniawan, K. Orellana, W. Zhang, D.P. Grandgenett, R.S. Harris, A.C. Sundborger-Lunna and H. Aihara (2020) Structural basis of host protein hijacking in human T-cell leukemia virus integration. Nat Commun. 11(1):3121. PMID: 32561747; PMCID: PMC7305164.
• Zhang, W., L.M. Mendonça, and L.M. Mansky (2018) The retrovirus Capsid Core. Virus Protein and Nucleoprotein Complexes. Edited by J. Robin Harris and David Bhella. Springer. ISBN 978-981-10-8456-0.
• Shang, J., Y. Zheng, Y. Yang, C. Liu, Q. Geng, W. Tai, L. Du, Y. Zhou, W. Zhang W and F. Li (2018) Cryo-Electron Microscopy Structure of Porcine Deltacoronavirus Spike Protein in the Prefusion State. Journal of virology. 92(4). PMID:29070693, PMCID: PMC5790952
• Martin, J.L., L.M. Mendonça, I. Angert, J.D. Mueller, W. Zhang, L.M. Mansky (2017) Disparate Contributions of Human Retrovirus Capsid Subdomains to Gag-Gag Oligomerization, Virus Morphology, and Particle Biogenesis. Journal of virology. 91(14). PMID: 28446667, PMCID: PMC5487576
• Christenson, J.K., M.R. Jensen, B.R. Goblirsch, F. Mohamed, W. Zhang, C.M. Wilmot, L.P. Wackett (2017) Active Multienzyme Assemblies for Long-Chain Olefinic Hydrocarbon Biosynthesis. Journal of Bacteriology. 199(9). PMID: 28223313, PMCID: PMC5388818
• Maldonado, J.O., S. Cao, W. Zhang, L.M. Mansky (2016) Distinct Morphology of Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Type 1-Like Particles. Viruses. 8(5). PMID:27187442, PMCID: PMC4885087 
• Cao, S., J.O. Maldonado, I.F. Grigsby, L.M. Mansky and W. Zhang (2015) Analysis of human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 particles by using cryo-electron tomography. J. Virol. 89:2430-2435. PMID: 25473052. PMC4338869.
• Zhang, W., S. Cao, J.L. Martine, J.D. Muller and L.M. Mansky (2015) Morphology and ultrastructure of retrovirus particles. AIMS Biophys. 2(3): 343-369. 
• Cao, S., M. Saha, W. Zhao, P. Jardine, W. Zhang, S. Grimes, and M.C. Morai (2014) Insights into the structure and assembly of the bacteriophage Φ29 dsDNA packaging motor. J. Virol. 88:3986-3996. PMID: 24403593. PMC3993773.
• Cao, S. and W. Zhang (2013) Characterization of an Early-Stage Membrane Fusion Intermediate of Sindbis Virus using Cryo-electron Microscopy. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S. A. 110: 13362-13367. PMID: 23898184. PMC3746934.