Shao-Ling Huang, M.D.

Assistant Professor of Medicine (Cardiology)
The University of Texas Medical School at Houston

Dr. Shao-Ling Huang is a cardiovascular pharmacologist. She received her medical degree from Hunan Medical School in China and subsequently worked as a clinical pharmacologist. After receiving her Ph.D . degree in Cardiovascular Molecular Pharmacology, she underwent further postdoctoral training in the area of liposome-based drug delivery systems and cardiovascular ultrasound at Northwestern University in Chicago under the mentorship of Dr. Robert MacDonald, a well-known, world liposome expert. Dr. Huang is the author of 44 manuscripts, 45 abstracts and 2 patents.

Her training in clinical medicine, clinical pharmacology, molecular pharmacology, liposomal design, and ultrasound physics provides her with the unique ability to tackle the complex scientific issues in her research. Dr. Huang has extensive experience in lipid membrane biochemistry, liposomal design, cell biology, and molecular biology.

Her research focus is on the liposome therapeutics delivery for cardiovascular disease. Liposomes are the smallest artificial vesicles of spherical shape that can be produced from natural untoxic phospholipids and cholesterol. As shown in the following schematic drawings of liposomes, the vesicles can be used as drug carriers and loaded with a great variety of molecules, such as small drug molecules, proteins, nucleotides and plasmid DNA. We have developed novel methods for gas and drug co-encapsulation into a single liposome. The gas encapsulation allows liposome being image by ultrasound and releasing contents upon ultrasound application. The goal of our research is to develop a long circulating gas/drug co-encapsulated liposome for ultrasound controlled drug delivery.

Reference:

Britton GL, Kim H, Kee PH, Aronowski J, Holland CK, McPherson DD, Huang SL. Xenon-loaded Liposomes for Ultrasound Controlled Xenon Delivery and Inhibition of Cerebral Ischemia. Circulation. 2010,19;122(16):1578-87.
Huang SL. Ultrasound-responsive liposomes. Methods Mol Biol. 2010; 605:113-28.
Huang SL, McPHerson DD, MacDonald RC. A method to co-encapsulate gas and drugs in liposomes for ultrasound-controlled drug delivery. 2008 Aug;34(8):1272-80. Huang SL. Liposomes in ultrasonic drug and gene delivery. Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2008 Jun 30;60(10):1167-76.