Wilson Meng, PhD

The Meng Lab focuses on design and characterization of inspired drug delivery systems for modulating immune functions in inflammatory tissues.  The group pursues projects that bridge gaps between preclinical and clinical stages in drug development.  The general approach is to increase drug bioavailability in diseased tissues while limiting systemic toxicities.   A major goal is to repurpose experimental and approved biologics for localized treatment of graft rejection and solid tumors. Current research themes include:

• The group is developing bioaffinity hydrogels formed by self-assembling peptides in delivering antibodies and Fc fusion proteins for locoregional immunoregulation.
• The lab has developed surface-functionalized nanoparticles for formulating recombinant proteins, nucleic acids, and poorly water-soluble small molecules as therapeutics.
• The team is applying MHC bioinformatics and T cell epitope cross-reactivity analysis in predicting immunogenicity of recombinant protein therapeutics.
• Collaborative projects include developing injectable nanostructures for delivering immune modulators in delaying onset of type-I diabetes in mouse models and engineering artificial thymic organoids to reprogram T cells.

View a list of Dr. Meng’s publications here. Dr. Meng received his PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Southern California.  After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the UCLA School of Medicine, he joined Duquesne University, where he is Associate Professor of Pharmaceutics.  Dr. Meng graduated from the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy and practiced pharmacy in Maryland and California.  He was a visiting scientist at the Molecular Biosensor and Imaging Center at Carnegie Mellon University.  He has served as grant reviewer for the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, The Wellcome Trust (UK), and the National Science Foundation.  In addition, he is an associate editor for the Journal of Pharmaceutical Innovation (SpringerNature) and served as a guest editor for Clinical Immunology (Elsevier).