Department


Pharmaceutical Sciences

Associate Professor
Focus: Drug Development & Regulation

Contact Information
(518) 694-7895
haian.zheng@acphs.edu 


Speaker Request
Haian Zheng, PH.D.

EDUCATION

  • B.S., Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, Shanghai Medical University
  • M.S., Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences, University at Albany
  • Ph.D., Pharmaceutical Science, School of Pharmacy, University of Connecticut

COURSES TAUGHT AT ACPHS

  • Pharmaceutics I & II
  • Pharmaceutical and Analytical Techniques
  • Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Experiences
  • Botanical Medicines
  • Molecular Foundation of Drug Actions
  • Advanced Pharmaceutics I & II
  • Drug Delivery Principles
  • Regulatory Sciences
  • Pharmaceutical Stability
  • Special Topics in Pharmaceutics
  • Thesis Research
  • Advance Pharmacy Practice Experiences (APPE)

RESEARCH INTERESTS 

Complex Drug Products (CDP) have complex substances, formulations, and/or mechanisms, that are challenging to characterize chemically, formulate physically, assess biologically, and evaluate clinically. Our research is to provide insights for industry, regulators, and clinicians to improve the quality, safety, efficacy, approvability, and affordability of CDP for patients. Zheng’s group integrated an array of interdisciplinary approaches including structural-based drug design, computer modeling, formulation design, molecular characterization, and bioanalytical testing to close the gaps between product quality and clinical effects of:

  • Biologics, Biosimilars, and Peptides: study, design, formulate, develop, and evaluatethe quality, efficacy and safety of therapeutic proteins and peptides.
  • Botanical Drug Products (BDP) are made from natural complex substances. We applyanalytical techniques, translational strategies, and cutting-edge tools to demystify medicinal plants that can be developed into pharmaceutical or wellness products.
  • Endocannabinoid System (ECS) Research: Cannabis is one of the most used and studied botanicals. The discovery of cannabinoids and then endocannabinoids revealed more fascinating molecular mechanisms between cannabinoids and the ECS. Dr Zheng has been focused on investigating the mechanisms of ECS and the “endocannabinoidome”, especially the ECS across the blood brain barrier (BBB) between the central nervous system and peripheral circulations. These studies are promising to unlock ECS’ therapeutic potentials for stroke, injury, pain, degenerative diseases, and substance use disorder (SUD).

These research projects help to empower patient-centered product design, enhance drug development, enable regulatory decisions, and reduce risks, including drug abuse.

CONTRIBUTED BOOKS (Selected)

  • Martin’s Physical Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 7th edition, Edited by Patrick Sinko, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2017.
  • Shargel and Yu’s Applied Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics, 8th Edition, Edited by Murray P Ducharme and Leon Shargel, McGraw-Hill, 2021

PUBLICATIONS (Selected)

Kofi Hagan, Panayiotis Varelas, HaiAn Zheng*, Endocannabinoid System of the Blood-Brain Barrier -- Current Understandings and Therapeutic Potentials, Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research, 2022, Oct;7(5):561-568

Schuyler Pruyn, Justin Frey, Michael Brodeur, Benjamin Baker, Heather Long, Carla Graichen, HaiAn Zheng*, Michael Dailey*, Quality Assessment of Expired Naloxone Products from First-Responders’ Supplies, Journal of Prehospital Emergency Medicine, 2018 Dec 30:1-7

Naser Z. Alsharif, Jeanine P. Abrons, Dennis Williams, HaiAn Zheng, David N. Ombengi, Adnan Dakkuri, Sara Al­Dahir, Toyin Tofade, Suzanna Gim, Mary Beth O’Connell, Global/International Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experiences (part 1): Host Country, Site and Institution Considerations, (AACP Special Article on Global Pharmacy Education) American Journal of Pharmacy Education, 25;80(3):38. 2016

HaiAn Zheng, James Truong, Fred Carroll, Manjunath P. Pai, Do Formulation Differences between Reference Listed Drug and Generic Products of Piperacillin-Tazobactam Impact Reconstitution? Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 59 (3) 1767-1769, 2015.

Dominique Pepe, Melissa McCall, HaiAn Zheng, Luciana B. Lopes, Protein Transduction Domain-containing Microemulsions as Cutaneous Delivery Systems for an Anticancer Agent, Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 102(5): 1476-87, 2013

Jaclyn M. Hosmer, Soo Shin, Adwoa Nornoo, HaiAn Zheng. Luciana B. Lopes, Influence of Internal Structure and Composition of Liquid Crystalline Phases on Topical Delivery of Paclitaxel, Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 100(4):1444-1455, 2011

Luciana B. Lopes, Hillary VanDeWall, Hsin T. Li, Vijay Venugopal, Hsin K. Li, Stan Naydin, Jaclyn Hosmer, Mark Levendusky, HaiAn Zheng, M. Vitória L.B. Bentley, Robert Levin, Martha A. Hass, Topical Delivery of Lycopene Using Microemulsions: Enhanced Skin Penetration and Tissue Antioxidant Activity, Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 99: 1346-1357, 2010

Adwoa Nornoo, HaiAn Zheng, Luciana Lopes, Boris Johnson-Restropo, Kurunthachalam Kannan, Rachel Reed, Oral Microemulsions of Paclitaxel: in-situ and pharmacokinetic studies. European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, 71(2), 310-317, February 2009

HaiAn Zheng, Ju Zhao, WanYun Sheng, Xiang-Qun Xie, A Transmembrane Helix-bundle from G-protein Coupled Receptor CB2: Biosynthesis, Purification, and NMR Characterization, Biopolymers 83(1):46-61, 2006

HaiAn Zheng, Ju Zhao, Shu Wang, CM Lin, Thomas Chen, David Jones, Stanley Opella, Xiang-Qun Xie, Biosynthesis and Purification of a Hydrophobic Peptide from Transmembrane Domains of G Protein Coupled CB2 Receptor, Journal of Peptide Research, 65(4):450-8, 2005

Xiang-Qun Xie, Ju Zhao, HaiAn Zheng, Expression, Purification, and Isotope Labeling of a GPCR Protein Fragment, CB2(180-233), Protein Expression and Purification, 38(1):61-8, 2004

 

CONFERENCES AND PRESENTATIONS (Selected)

Emilia Johnson-Viola, Dua Imam, Nicolas Lin, Kofi Hagan, Jeffrey Voigt, Marcel Musteata, HaiAn Zheng, The Potential Effect of Cannabinoids on Drug Permeability across the Blood Brain Barrier (BBB), 24rd AAPS-NERDG Annual Meeting, Hartford, CT, April 22, 2022

Kofi Hagan, Andrew Thurston, Marcel Musteata, Jeffrey Voigt, Alejandro Adam, Hava Avraham, Alexandros Makriyannis, HaiAn Zheng, Endocannabinoids may modify and regulate the Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) permeability, Rapid Fire Presentation, 23rd AAPS-NERDG Annual Meeting, Virtual, April 16, 2021

Andrew Thurston, Schuyler Pruyn, Jeffrey Voigt, Marcel Musteata, Hava Avraham, Alexandros Makriyannis, HaiAn Zheng, Endogenous Cannabinoid System at the Blood Brain Barrier: Distributions and Functions of Endocannabinoids, 4th Chemistry and Pharmacology of Drug Abuse, Boston, MA August 1, 2019

Schuyler Pruyn, Andrew Thurston, HaiAn Zheng, Biodistribution and Functions of Endocannabinoids Across the Blood Brain Barrier under Normal and Ischemic Conditions, 29th Annual International Cannabinoid Research Society Symposium, Bethesda, MD, June 2, 2019

Frey J, Pruyn S, Brodeur M, Baker B, Graichen C, Dailey M, Zheng H. Quality Assessment of Expired Naloxone Products from First Responders’ Supplies. AACP Annual Meeting, Boston MA, July 22, 2018.

Thurston AB, Zheng HA. Cannabinoid Receptor Expression on Human Embryotic Kidney Cells (HEK-293) and the Factors that Influence them. Chemistry and Pharmacology of Drug Abuse, Boston MA, August 2, 2018

HaiAn Zheng, Jenny Lin, Judy Teng, Redesign Regulatory Science Course for both PharmD and Graduate Students, AACP Annual Meeting, Nashville, Tenn. July 15–19, 2017

Nathan Spaziani, Ayush Deep, Andrew Thurston, HaiAn Zheng, System Pharmacognosy Mapping of Phyto-cannabinoids for CB1/ CB2 Activity and Specificity, The 27th Annual International Cannabinoid Research Society Symposium, Montreal, Quebec, June 22-27, 2017

Katie E. Cardone, HaiAn Zheng, Nicholas Balk, Kevin Rivenburg, Robert Hamilton, Promoting Pharmacy through Recruitment for Two Campuses in Two States, AACP Annual Meeting, Anaheim, CA, July 23, 2016

Nouf Alanzi, Zachary Novakovic, Patricia Grasso, HaiAn Zheng, Structures and Interactions between Leptin Receptor and Leptin-Based Peptides, AAPS Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, November 2-6, 2014

Anna Stonemen, Aidyanne Torres, HaiAn Zheng, Michael Brodeur, Stability of Epinephrine in Expired EpiPen Products from EMS Ambulances, AAPS Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, November 2-6, 2014

HaiAn Zheng, Rachel Sussman, Rachel Smith, Francelyse Leveille, Ryan Watson, Gail Goodman-Snitkoff, PharmaDA$HTM: An Interactive Game of Drug Development and Approval Process for IPS Workshop, AACP Annual Meeting, Kissimmee, FL, July 14-18, 2012

Matthew Jacob, Yennhi Nguyen, Francelyse Leveille, Amit Pai, HaiAn Zheng, Pharmacokinetics and Nephro-toxicity Monitoring of Gentamicin, AAPS Annual Meeting, Washington DC, October 27, 2011

Roshan Tasgaonkar, Nikolaos G. Sgourakis, Jianhui Tian, John Aziz, Angel E. Garcia, HaiAn Zheng, In Silico Formulation: Insulin Stability and Molecular Dynamics by Computer Simulation, the FIP Pharmaceutical Sciences 2010 World Congress & AAPS Annual Meeting and Exposition, New Orleans, LA. November 14 - 18, 2010

HaiAn Zheng, Linh Nguyen, Xun Gong, Luciana Lopes, Judy Teng, Pharmaceutics in Motion: Embracing Computer Modeling and Multimedia Presentation in Pharmacy Education. AACP Annual Meeting and Seminars, Seattle, WA July 10-14, 2010

Kavita Patel, HaiAn Zheng, Katie Cardone, Stability Study of Extemporaneously Prepared Sodium Thiosulfate Injections, AAPS Northeast Regional Annual Meeting, Rocky Hill, CT April 23, 2010

Hsin T. Li, Luciana Lopes, HaiAn Zheng, Martha A. Hass, Richard E. Dearborn, Jeffrey M. Voigt, Research-based Instructional Laboratory for a Pharmaceutical Analytical Techniques Course, AACP Annual Meeting, Boston, MA July 18-22, 2009

Paula Wong, Chris Policastro, Leona Bluestein, HaiAn Zheng, Pharmaceutics Online-Homework: Calculation Practice and Evaluation in Large-Class, AACP Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, July 2008

Adowa Nornoo and HaiAn Zheng, Pharmacokinetics and NMR Characterization of Paclitaxel Microemulsion, AAPS Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA November 2007