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Wei Zhang

Cryo-electron Microscopy Specialist

(612) 624-1552


Education

Ph.D.   2001, Structural Biology, Purdue University, IN
M.S.   2002, Computer Science, Purdue University, IN
M.S.   1992, Biophysics, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
B.S.   1989, Biophysics, Nankai University, China


Professional Experience

2008 - present Cryo-electron microscopy specialist, Characterization Facility, Institute of Technology; Research Assistant Professor, Institute for Molecular Virology, Department of Diagnostic and Biological Sciences, School of Dentistry, University of Minnesota
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

Publications

  • Yu, I.-M., W. Zhang, H. A. Holdaway, L. Li, V. A. Kostyuchenko, P. R. Chipman, R. J. Kuhn, M. G. Rossmann, J. Chen. 2008. Structure of immature dengue virus at low pH primes proteolytic maturation. Science. 319:1834-1837.
  • Kaufmann, B., G. E. Nybakken, P. R. Chipman, W. Zhang, M. S. Diamond, D. H. Fremont, R. J. Kuhn, M. G. Rossmann. 2006. West Nile virus in complex with the Fab fragment of a neutralizing monoclonal antibody. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S. 103:12400-12404.
  • Mukhopadhyay, S., W. Zhang, S. Gabler, P. R. Chipman, E. G. Strauss, J. H. Strauss, T. S. Baker, R. J. Kuhn, M. G. Rossmann. 2006. Mapping the structure and function of the E1 and E2 glycoproteins in alphaviruses. Structure. 14:63-73.
  • Ji, Y., D. C. Marinescu, W. Zhang, X. Zhang, X. Yan, T. S. Baker. 2006. A model-based parallel alignment algorithm for cryoTEM and its application to the study of virus structures. J. Struct. Biol. 154:1-19.
  • Rossmann, M. G., M. C. Morais, P. Leiman, W. Zhang. 2005. Combining X-ray crystallography and electron microscopy. Structure 13:355-362.
  • Zhang, W., M. Heil, R. J. Kuhn, T. S. Baker. 2005. Heparin binding sites on Ross River virus revealed by electron cryo-microscopy. Virology 332:511-518.
  • Zhang, Y., W. Zhang, S. Ogata, D. Clements, J. H. Strauss, T. S. Baker, R. J. Kuhn, M. G. Rossmann. 2004. Conformational changes of the flavivirus E glycoprotein. Structure 12:1607-1618.
  • Zhang, W., P. R. Chipman, J. Corver, P. R. Johnson, Y. Zhang, S. Mukhopadhyay, T. S. Baker, J. H. Strauss, M. G. Rossmann, R. J. Kuhn. 2003. Visualization of membrane protein domains by cryo-electron microscopy of dengue virus. Nat. Struct. Biol. 10:907-912.
  • Zhang, Y., J. Corver, P. R. Chipman, W. Zhang, S. V. Pletnev, D. Sedlak, T. S. Baker, J. H. Strauss, R. J. Kuhn, M. G. Rossmann. 2003. Structures of immature flavivirus particles. EMBO J. 22:2604-2613.
  • Zhang, W., B. Fisher, N. Olson, J. H. Strauss, R. J. Kuhn, T. S. Baker. 2002. Aura virus structure suggests that the T=4 organization is a fundamental property of viral structural proteins. J. Virol. 76:7239-7246.
  • Kuhn, R. J., W. Zhang, M. G. Rossmann, S. V. Pletnev, J. Corver, E. Lenches, C. T. Jones, S. Mukhopadhyay, P. R. Chipman, E. G. Strauss, T. S. Baker, J. H. Strauss. 2002. Structure of dengue virus: implications for flavivirus, organization, maturation and fusion. Cell 108:717-725.
  • Zhang, W., N. Olson, T. S. Baker, L. Faulkner, M. Agbandje-McKenna, M. I. Boulton, J. W. Davies, R. McKenna. 2001. Structure of the maize streak virus geminate particle. Virology 279:471-477.
  • Pletnev, S. V., W. Zhang, S. Mukhopadhyay, B. R. Fisher, R. Hernandez, D. T. Brown, T. S. Baker, M. G. Rossmann, R. J. Kuhn. 2001. Locations of carbohydrate sites on alphavirus glycoproteins show that E1 forms an icosahedral scaffold. Cell 105:127-136.
  • Tao, Y., W. Zhang. 2000. Recent developments in cryo-electron microscopy reconstruction of single particles. Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 10:616-622.


Wei Zhang is now our lead Research Associate active in cryo-TEM on biological and soft materials systems.  She will oversee the new FEI F30 FEG TEM in Hasselmo, together with staff member Dr. Ozan Ugurlu.  Her principal activity will include not only cryo-TEM of biological and soft synthetic materials but also tomography, a process that produces three-dimensional models from large numbers of TEM images acquired at different sample tilt angles.  Wei holds a joint position, Assistant Research Professor, in the Department of Diagnostic and Biological Sciences within the University's School of Dentistry.  Her research program focuses on the fundamental mechanisms of virus-cell interactions.  She uses cryo-TEM to determine the structure of the virus/ cell membrane complex, with the long-term objective outline the detailed steps of viral protein conformational changes correlating with membrane remodeling and fusion.
(www.virology.umn.edu/investigators/coreinvestigators/zhang/home.html)