Doctor Gang Zheng

Doctor Gang Zheng

Academic Program Advisor Science (International),
Physical Sciences

Senior Lecturer,
Physical Sciences

Biography

Dr. Gang Zheng began his scientific research career in 2003 while pursuing a MEng degree at HUST in China. His early research focused on developing novel QSPR and QSAR models that utilized artificial neural networks (ANNs) for predicting the chemical and biological properties of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). In 2005, he relocated to Sydney to pursue a PhD in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) under the supervision of Prof. William S. Price, with the support of an IPRS scholarship. He completed his PhD in three years and published four high-quality journal articles that have collectively received over 120 citations.

After serving as a postdoctoral fellow in Price’s group for one and a half years, Dr. Zheng secured a position as a research lecturer at Western Sydney University in 2010. Since then, his research has focused on developing novel diffusion NMR techniques and applying them to environmental and food sciences. Additionally, he has developed research interests in the study of proton exchange by NMR saturation transfer. A study on thiol-water proton exchange, initiated by Dr Johnny Chen (Dr. Zheng's previous PhD student), has produced some exciting findings, suggesting that a commonly used pharmaceutical drug, n-acetylcysteine (NAC), may have the potential to generate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast in vivo.

As of 2023, Dr. Zheng has published over 40 journal articles, four book chapters, and two patent cooperation treaty (PCT) publications, and holds an h-index of 14 according to Scopus.

This information has been contributed by Doctor Zheng.

Qualifications

  • PhD University of Western Sydney

Professional Memberships

  • ANZMAG (2009)

Interests

  • Nuclear Magnetic Resonance - NMR
  • Pulsed Gradient Spin-Echo NMR
  • Chemometrics
  • Environmental Chemistry
  • Food Chemistry
  • QSAR
  • Self-diffusion

Organisational Unit (School / Division)

  • Physical Sciences
  • Physical Sciences

Contact

Email: G.Zheng@westernsydney.edu.au
Phone: (02) 4620 3729
Mobile:
Location: 21.1.25
Campbelltown

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Teaching

Previous Teaching Areas

  • 300803 Essential Chemistry 2, 2020
  • 300808 Introductory Chemistry, 2023
  • 300849 Physical Chemistry, 2020

Publications

Chapters in Books

  • Willis, S., Stait-Gardner, T., Torres, A., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2018), 'NMR versatility', Diffusive Spreading in Nature, Technology and Society, Springer 9783319677972.
  • Willis, S., Stait-Gardner, T., Virk, A., Masuda, R., Zubkov, M., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2014), 'Diffusion : definition, description and measurement', Modern NMR Techniques for Synthetic Chemistry, CRC Press 9781466592247.
  • Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2013), 'Environmental NMR : diffusion ordered spectroscopy methods', eMagRes, Wiley & Sons 9780470034590.
  • Zheng, G., Krause-Heuer, A. and Price, W. (2011), 'Pulsed Gradient Spin-Echo NMR', Metallointercalators: Synthesis and Techniques to Probe Their Interactions with Biomolecules, Springer 9783211094273.

Journal Articles

  • Chen, J., Hwang, D., Chen, Y., Chen, T., Yadav, N., Stait-Gardner, T., Price, W. and Zheng, G. (2022), 'MRI detection of hepatic n-acetylcysteine uptake in mice', Biomedicines, vol 10, no 9 .
  • Kochubei, A., Zhang, Y., Wang, Z., Price, W., Zheng, G. and Huang, J. (2020), 'Structural changes in copper based metal-organic framework catalyst induced by organic solvents', Catalysis Today, vol 351 , pp 2 - 5.
  • Chen, J., Yadav, N., Stait-Gardner, T., Gupta, A., Price, W. and Zheng, G. (2020), 'Thiol-water proton exchange of glutathione, cysteine, and N-acetylcysteine : implications for CEST MRI', NMR in Biomedicine, vol 33, no 1 .
  • Chen, J., Torres, A., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2020), 'Applications of WaterControl to TOCSY and COSY experiments', Journal of Biomolecular NMR, vol 74 , pp 333 - 340.
  • Wijesekera, N., Stait-Gardner, T., Gupta, A., Chen, J., Zheng, G., Torres, A. and Price, W. (2019), 'A complete derivation of the Karger equations for analyzing NMR diffusion measurements of exchanging systems', Concepts in Magnetic Resonance. Part A, vol 47A, no 2 .
  • Price, W., Gupta, A., Masuda, R., Stait-Gardner, T., Torres, A. and Zheng, G. (2019), 'Shortening NMR diffusion experimental times', Diffusion Fundamentals, vol 32 .
  • Price, W., Gupta, A., Stait-Gardner, T., Torres, A., Willis, S., Zheng, G. and Aihara, Y. (2019), 'Better, faster, more versatile NMR diffusion measurements', Diffusion Fundamentals, vol 32 .
  • Wijesekera, N., Willis, S., Gupta, A., Torres, A., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2018), 'NMR diffusion and relaxation studies of 2-nitroimidazole and albumin interactions', Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, vol 193 , pp 318 - 323.
  • Brenner, T., Chen, J., Stait-Gardner, T., Zheng, G., Matsukawa, S. and Price, W. (2018), 'Jump-and-return sandwiches : a new family of binomial-like selective inversion sequences with improved performance', Journal of Magnetic Resonance, vol 288 , pp 100 - 108.
  • Stait-Gardner, T., Torres, A., Zubkov, M., Willis, S., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2018), 'Diffusion NMR : a tool to investigate the dynamics of organic systems', Current Organic Chemistry, vol 22, no 8 , pp 758 - 768.
  • Willis, S., Zheng, G., Torres, A., Stait-Gardner, T. and Price, W. (2018), 'A simple and effective binomial block based pulse sequence capable of suppressing multiple NMR signals', Journal of Physical Chemistry A, vol 122, no 50 , pp 9712 - 9720.
  • Suresh, H., Low, M., Jarouche, M., Zheng, G., Zhang, L., Lee, S., Pearson, J., Power, D., Singh, S., Li, C. and Khoo, C. (2018), 'The chemical and pharmacological variability of key bio-actives present in commercially available Angelica sinensis, Glycyrrhiza uralensis and Rhodiola rosea samples', Pharmaceutica Analytica Acta, vol 9, no 10 .
  • Masuda, R., Gupta, A., Stait-Gardner, T., Zheng, G., Torres, A. and Price, W. (2018), 'Shortening NMR experimental times', Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry, vol 56, no 9 , pp 847 - 851.
  • Zheng, G., Torres, A. and Price, W. (2017), 'WaterControl : self-diffusion based solvent signal suppression enhanced by selective inversion', Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry, vol 55, no 5 , pp 447 - 451.
  • Chen, J., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2017), 'A new phase modulated binomial-like selective-inversion sequence for solvent signal suppression in NMR', Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry, vol 55, no 2 , pp 115 - 119.
  • Torres, A., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2017), 'NOESY-watercontrol : a new NOESY sequence for the observation of under-water protein resonances', Journal of Biomolecular NMR, vol 67, no 3 , pp 233 - 241.
  • Willis, S., Dennis, G., Stait-Gardner, T., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2017), 'Determining a 'diffusion-averaged' characteristic ratio for aligned lyotropic hexagonal phases using PGSE NMR self-diffusion measurements, random walk simulations and obstruction models', Journal of Molecular Liquids, vol 236 , pp 107 - 116.
  • Zubkov, M., Dennis, G., Stait-Gardner, T., Torres, A., Willis, S., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2017), 'Physical characterization using diffusion NMR spectroscopy', Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry, vol 55, no 5 , pp 414 - 424.
  • Ganbold, B., Zheng, G., Willis, S., Dennis, G. and Price, W. (2015), 'The transport and conductivity properties of the ionic liquid EMIMTCM', Journal of Molecular Liquids, vol 201 , pp 96 - 101.
  • Aryal, A., Sathasivan, A., Heitz, A., Zheng, G., Nikraz, H. and Ginige, M. (2015), 'Combined BAC and MIEX pre-treatment of secondary wastewater effluent to reduce fouling of nanofiltration membranes', Water Research, vol 70 , pp 214 - 223.
  • Macias, F., Deo, K., Pages, B., Wormell, P., Clegg, J., Zhang, Y., Li, F., Zheng, G., Sakoff, J., Gilbert, J. and Aldrich-Wright, J. (2015), 'Synthesis and analysis of the structure, diffusion and cytotoxicity of heterocyclic platinum(IV) complexes', Chemistry: A European Journal, vol 21, no 47 , pp 16990 - 17001.
  • Codling, D., Zheng, G., Stait-Gardner, T. and Price, W. (2014), 'Diffusion studies of phenylenediamine isomers in water-monohydric-alcohol systems', Australian Journal of Chemistry, vol 67, no 6 , pp 922 - 928.
  • Codling, D., Zheng, G., Stait-Gardner, T. and Price, W. (2014), 'Probing solute-solvent interactions using difluorobenzene isomers in water-monohydric-alcohol mixtures', Journal of Molecular Liquids, vol 198 , pp 392 - 397.
  • Willis, S., Dennis, G., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2013), 'Preparation and physical properties of a macroscopically aligned lyotropic hexagonal phase templated hydrogel', Reactive and Functional Polymers, vol 73, no 7 , pp 911 - 922.
  • Codling, D., Zheng, G., Stait-Gardner, T., Yang, S., Nilsson, M. and Price, W. (2013), 'Diffusion studies of dihydroxybenzene isomers in water-alcohol systems', Journal of Physical Chemistry B, vol 117, no 9 , pp 2734 - 2741.
  • Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2012), 'Direct hydrodynamic radius measurement on dissolved organic matter in natural waters using diffusion NMR', Environmental Science and Technology, vol 46, no 3 , pp 1675 - 1680.
  • Willis, S., Price, W., Eriksson-Scott, K., Zheng, G. and Dennis, G. (2012), 'Influence of polymer architecture on the averaging effects in PGSE NMR attenuations for bimodal solutions of linear and star poly(vinyl acetates)', Journal of Molecular Liquids, vol 167 , pp 110 - 114.
  • Zheng, G., Torres, A., Ali, M., Manolios, N. and Price, W. (2011), 'NMR study of the structure and self-association of core peptide in aqueous solution and DPC micelles', Biopolymers (Pept. Sci.), vol 96, no 2 , pp 177 - 180.
  • Moroney, B., Stait-Gardner, T., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2011), 'Numerical analysis of NMR diffusion experiments in complex systems', Diffusion Fundamentals, vol 16 .
  • Torres, A., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2010), 'J-compensated PGSE: an improved NMR diffusion experiment with fewer phase distortions', Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry, vol 48, no 2 , pp 129 - 133.
  • Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2010), 'Solvent signal suppression in NMR', Progress in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, vol 56, no 3 , pp 267 - 288.
  • Price, W., Stait-Gardner, T., Torres, A. and Zheng, G. (2010), 'Developments in NMR diffusion measurements and q-space imaging', Chinese Journal of Magnetic Resonance, vol 27, no 3 , pp 267 - 288.
  • Willis, S., Dennis, G., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2010), 'Averaging effects in PGSE NMR attenuations observed in bimodal molecular weight PMMA solutions', Macromolecules, vol 43, no 17 , pp 7351 - 7356.
  • Willis, S., Dennis, G., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2010), 'Hydrodynamic size and scaling relations for linear and 4 arm star PVAc studied using PGSE NMR', Journal of Molecular Liquids, vol 156, no 1 , pp 45 - 51.
  • Zheng, G., Torres, A. and Price, W. (2009), 'MQ-PGSTE: a new multi-quantum STE-based PGSE NMR sequence', Journal of Magnetic Resonance, vol 198, no 2 , pp 271 - 274.
  • Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2009), 'Simultaneous convection compensation and solvent suppression in biomolecular NMR diffusion experiments', Journal of Biomolecular NMR, vol 45, no 3 , pp 295 - 299.
  • Stait-Gardner, T., Willis, S., Yadav, N., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2009), 'NMR Diffusion Measurements of Complex Systems', Diffusion Fundamentals, vol 15 , pp 1 - 22.
  • Zheng, G., Stait-Gardner, T., Payyadi Govardhan, A., Torres, A. and Price, W. (2008), 'PGSTE-WATERGATE : An STE-based PGSE NMR sequence with excellent solvent suppression', Journal of Magnetic Resonance, vol 191, no 1 , pp 159 - 163.
  • Zheng, G., Torres, A. and Price, W. (2008), 'Solvent suppression using phase-modulated binomial-like sequences and applications to diffusion measurements', Journal of Magnetic Resonance, vol 194, no 1 , pp 108 - 114.
  • Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2008), 'MAG-PGSTE : A new STE-based PGSE NMR sequence for the determination of diffusion in magnetically inhomogeneous samples', Journal of Magnetic Resonance, vol 195, no 1 , pp 40 - 44.
  • Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2007), 'Suppression of background gradients in (B0 gradient-based) NMR diffusion experiments', Concepts in Magnetic Resonance Part A, vol 30, no 5 , pp 261 - 277.
  • Zheng, G., Xiao, M. and Lu, X. (2007), 'Quantitative structure - activity relationships study on the Ah receptor binding affinities of polybrominated diphenyl ethers using a support vector machine', QSAR & Combinatorial Science, vol 26, no 4 , pp 536 - 541.
  • Xiao, M., Zheng, G., Yu, T. and Lu, X. (2007), 'Structure and activity relationship studies on toxicity of polychlorinated naphthalene using support vector machines', Fenxi Kexue Xuebao, vol 23 , pp 143 - 147.
  • Ai, Z., Zheng, G., Yang, P. and Lu, X. (2006), 'QSPR study on microwave-assisted photocatalytic degradation of chlorophenols', Fenxi Kexue Xuebao, vol 22 , pp 570 - 572.
  • Yuan, S., Xiao, M., Zheng, G., Tian, M. and Lu, X. (2006), 'Quantitative structure-property relationship studies on electrochemical degradation of substituted phenols using a support vector machine', SAR and QSAR in Environmental Research, vol 17, no 5 , pp 473 - 481.
  • Zheng, G., Xiao, M. and Lu, X. (2005), 'QSAR study on the Ah receptor-binding affinities of polyhalogenated dibenzo-p-dioxins using net atomic-charge descriptors and a radial basis neural network', Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, vol 383, no 5 , pp 810 - 816.
  • Zheng, G., Huang, W. and Lu, X. (2003), 'Prediction of n-octanol/water partition coefficients for polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins using a general regression neural network', Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, vol 376, no 5 , pp 680 - 685.

Conference Papers

  • Price, W., Gupta, A., Masuda, R., Stait-Gardner, T., Torres, A., Willis, S. and Zheng, G. (2019), 'NMR diffusion measurements of time-dependent samples', Australian and New Zealand Society for Magnetic Resonance. Conference, Cape Naturaliste, W.A..
  • Torres, A., Stait-Gardner, T., Gupta, A., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2019), 'Increasing the efficiency of multidimensional NMR experiments by varying the number scans in the indirect dimension', Australian and New Zealand Society for Magnetic Resonance. Conference, Cape Naturaliste, W.A..
  • Chen, J., Yadav, N., Stait-Gardner, T., Gupta, A., Price, W. and Zheng, G. (2019), 'A potentially new class of redox-sensitive CEST agents : preliminary Thiol-CEST studies with glutathione and cysteine', International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, Montreal, Canada.
  • Wijesekera, N., Willis, S., Gupta, A., Torres, A., Zheng, G. and Price, W. (2017), 'Characterising the binding of 2-nitroimidazole : a proton NMR study', Australian and New Zealand Society for Magnetic Resonance. Conference, Kingscliff, N.S.W..

Other Publications

  • 2014, 'Method and Apparatus for Separation of Mixtures', Patent
  • 2014, 'NMR Signal Excitation and Acquisition Methods and System', Patent
  • 2014, 'Method and Apparatus for Separation of Mixtures', Patent

Dr. Gang Zheng began his scientific research career in 2003 while pursuing a MEng degree at HUST in China. His early research focused on developing novel QSPR and QSAR models that utilized artificial neural networks (ANNs) for predicting the chemical and biological properties of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). In 2005, he relocated to Sydney to pursue a PhD in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) under the supervision of Prof. William S. Price, with the support of an IPRS scholarship. He completed his PhD in three years and published four high-quality journal articles that have collectively received over 120 citations. After serving as a postdoctoral fellow in Price’s group for one and a half years, Dr. Zheng secured a position as a research lecturer at Western Sydney University in 2010. Since then, his research has focused on developing novel diffusion NMR techniques and applying them to environmental and food sciences. Additionally, he has developed research interests in the study of proton exchange by NMR saturation transfer. A study on thiol-water proton exchange, initiated by Dr Johnny Chen (Dr. Zheng's previous PhD student), has produced some exciting findings, suggesting that a commonly used pharmaceutical drug, n-acetylcysteine (NAC), may have the potential to generate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast in vivo. As of 2023, Dr. Zheng has published over 40 journal articles, four book chapters, and two patent cooperation treaty (PCT) publications, and holds an h-index of 14 according to Scopus.

MRes students wanted:

1. NMR studies of chemical exchange

2. NMR studies of non-alcoholic wines

3. Quantum mechanical simulations of proton exchagne

PhD students wanted: 

Development of thiol-based chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) NMR/MRI techniques and related data analysis modules

This information has been contributed by Doctor Zheng.

Current Projects

Title: Treatment planning for the 21st Century - Electron Density: CT to MRI
Funder:
  • Anonymous Donation
Western Researchers: Bill Price, Timothy Stait-Gardner, Allan Torres and Gang Zheng
Years: 2015-03-01 - 2024-12-31
ID: P00022164

Previous Projects

Title: Development of a NMR Spectroscopy based Biomedical Research Platform Driven by Designing the Next Generation Water Signal Filtering Techniques.
Funder:
  • University of Western Sydney
Western Researchers: Gang Zheng, Bill Price, Allan Torres, Timothy Stait-Gardner and Bahman Ghadirian
Years: 2013-12-09 - 2014-12-09
ID: P00021842
Title: Evaluation of Hypoxia by MRI (i.e., tentative thesis title)
Funder:
  • South Western Sydney Local Health District
Western Researchers: Bill Price, Timothy Stait-Gardner, Allan Torres and Gang Zheng
Years: 2015-01-01 - 2018-06-30
ID: P00022775
Title: Development of high performance NMR diffusion experiments for physiologically relevant applications
Funder:
  • University of Western Sydney
Western Researchers: Gang Zheng
Years: 2009-09-22 - 2010-12-21
ID: P00017387
Title: Post-processing methods for dramatically improving NMR signals and its applications
Funder:
  • University of Western Sydney
Western Researchers: Bill Price, Bahman Ghadirian, Gang Zheng, Timothy Stait-Gardner and Allan Torres
Years: 2012-03-02 - 2013-03-01
ID: P00020582
Title: NMR Diffusography
Funder:
  • University of Western Sydney
Western Researchers: Bill Price, Timothy Stait-Gardner, Allan Torres, Gang Zheng, Andrew Shalliker, Gary Dennis and Marion Gaborieau
Years: 2010-05-28 - 2011-05-27
ID: P00018722
Title: Development of Advanced MRI Techniques for Clinical Imaging
Funder:
  • Anonymous Donation
Western Researchers: Bill Price, Gang Zheng, Timothy Stait-Gardner and Allan Torres
Years: 2010-11-15 - 2015-02-28
ID: P00019301

Supervision

Doctor Zheng is available to be a principal supervisor for doctoral projects

Current Supervision

Thesis Title: Development of new radio-frequency pulse sequences for chemical exchange saturation transfer magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging
Field of Research:

Western Sydney University

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