Zhan Wu

Contact Information

  • Email Address: zhan.wu@duke.edu

Education

  • B.S.E. Biomedical Engineering
  • Duke University, 2016

Research Interests

Zhan's current research is focused on improving and elucidating the intracellular early endocytic mechanisms of electric field-mediated gene delivery (a.k.a. electrotransfection). Electrotransfection is the process of introducing exogenous genes to cells through the application of electric fields. Although this technique has been used pre-clinically and clinically, high electrotransfection efficiencies (eTEs) have been difficult to achieve to date. Our lab's studies have shown that electric field induces stable and metastable complex formation between the electrotransfected DNA and the plasma membrane, and that endocytosis is responsible for delivery of plasmid DNA (pDNA). The intracellular trafficking of pDNA after internalization, however, is still poorly understood. Further studies are being conducted to shed light on this process.