Zeng Ke-Wu

Associate Professor

School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University

Research Areas

Natural Products Pharmacology

Natural Products Chemical Biology

Education & Positions

Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, B.S., 2004

Peking University, M.D., 2007

Peking University, Ph.D., 2011

School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2011-2013

School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University, Assistant Research Fellow, 2013-2015

School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University, Associate Professor, 2015-

Faculty Accolades

Chinese medical science and technology second prize (list 3rd)

Chinese traditional and western medicine science and technology second award (list 3rd)

Second award of science research famous achievement in higher institution (list 3rd)

Green leaf biomedicine outstanding young scholar award

Research Interests

Natural product is a crucial source of novel drug development. However, a key problem hindering natural products study is the unknown mechanism of action. Therefore, how to identify the direct target for these bioactive natural products is a pivotal scientific issue. Our group mainly focuses on the direct target protein identification of natural products from medicinal plants and traditional Chinese medicine. Currently, we have successfully established a drug target identification strategy for natural products. Thus, we can pull down and purify the target proteins from cell or tissue lysates using chemically synthesized probes based on the structure of natural products, and further investigate the molecular pharmacological mechanisms. Collectively, our research can not only reveal the detailed pharmacological mechanism for the bioactive natural products, and also provide the novel therapeutic targets for new drug development in clinical.

Grants and fundings

Natural Science Foundation of China (81303253) 2014.1-2016.12

Natural Science Foundation of China (81773932) 2018.1-2021.12

Principal Investigator

Publications

1. Li-Xi Liao¹, Xiao-Min Song¹, Li-Chao Wang¹, Hai-Ning Lv, Jin-Feng Chen, Dan Liu, Ge Fu, Ming-Bo Zhao, Yong Jiang, Ke-Wu Zeng*, Peng-Fei Tu*. Highly selective inhibition of IMPDH2 provides the basis of antineuroinflammation therapy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 114(2017)E5986-E5994.

2. Li-Chao Wang, Li-Xi Liao, Hai-Ning Lv, Dan Liu, Wei Dong, Jian Zhu, Jin-Feng Chen, Meng-Ling Shi, Ge Fu, Xiao-Min Song, Yong Jiang, Ke-Wu Zeng*, Peng-Fei Tu*. Highly Selective Activation of Heat Shock Protein 70 by Allosteric Regulation Provides an Insight into Efficient Neuroinflammation Inhibition. EBioMedicine 23(2017)160-172.

3. Li-Xi Liao, Ming-Bo Zhao, Xin Dong, Yong Jiang, Ke-Wu Zeng*, Peng-Fei Tu*. TDB protects vascular endothelial cells against oxygen-glucose deprivation/reperfusion-induced injury by targeting miR-34a to increase Bcl-2 expression. Scientific Reports 25(2016)37959.

4. Ke-Wu Zeng, Fang-Jiao Song, Ying-Hong Wang, Ning Li, Qian Yu, Li-Xi Liao, Yong Jiang, Peng-Fei Tu. Induction of hepatoma carcinoma cell apoptosis through activation of the JNK-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase-ROS self-driven death signal circuit. Cancer Letters 353(2014)220-231.