Leaf Huang, Ph.D.
Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor, Division of Pharmacoengineering and Molecular Pharmaceutics
Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering

(919) 843-0736
leafh@email.unc.edu
ADDRESS
UNC Eshelman School Of Pharmacy, 1315 Kerr Hall, CB# 7571, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599
DOWNLOAD CV
黄力夫教授 Leaf Huang, Ph.D. is the Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor, in the Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Huang’s research has been in the area of gene therapy and targeted drug delivery. He pioneered the liposome non-viral vector and has designed and manufactured the cationic lipid vector for the first non-viral clinical trial in 1992. He was also the first to publish the activity of polyethylene glycol (PEG) in prolonging the circulation time of liposomes. His current work centers on nanoparticle vectors for gene transfer in tumors and the liver. He also continues research in establishing a ligand targeted delivery system for cDNA, mRNA, siRNA, proteins, and peptides for tumor growth inhibition and for vaccines in treating cancer and metabolic diseases. He has authored or co-authored more than 600 papers with an H-index of 137. He is also the inventor or co-inventor of 22 US and foreign patents. In 2004, he received the Alec D. Bangham MD FRS Achievement Award, which is the highest honor in liposome research. He was the recipient of the 2013 Distinguished Pharmaceutical Scientist Award which is the highest scientific recognition of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists. He was named a Highly Cited Researcher in “Pharmacology & Toxicology” and then in “Cross Field” since 2016. Dr. Huang has also co-founded 6 biotech start-ups in the past.
Education, Certification and Licensure
- 1969 – 1974: Ph.D. in Biophysics at Michigan State University
- 1964 – 1968: B.S. in Physics at National Taiwan University
Current Projects
Current research in the Huang lab focuses on the role of tumor-associated bacteria in tumor progression and metastasis. Fusobacteria nucleatum is an anaerobic bacterium that colonizes in the gut and promotes the growth and spread of colorectal cancer. We have designed nanoformulations encapsulating antibiotics and/or chemo drugs intravenously administered to the tumor-bearing mice. Killing of the tumor/metastasis associated F. nucleatum induced a strong immune reaction to control the tumor growth. How does the death of the bacteria trigger the conversion of an immunologically cold tumor to a hot tumor is being studied with tools including the state of the art omics technology.
- Administrative Core
- Nano Approaches to Modulate Host Cell Response for Cancer Therapy
- Developmental Program
- Project 1: Nanotherapies for Vemurafenib Resistant Melanoma
- Hepatic Non-viral Gene Therapy
Honors and Awards
2021 | Highly Cited Researchers 2020 in “Cross-Field” by Clarivate Analytics |
2020 | Highly Cited Researchers 2019 in “Cross-Field” by Clarivate Analytics |
Keynote speaker, AAPS PharmSci360 Symposium | |
2019 | Keynote speaker, Virginia Nanomedicine Forum, Virginia Commonwealth University |
Keynote speaker, School of Pharmacy, University of Pittsburgh | |
Highly Cited Researchers 2018 in “Pharmacology & Toxicology” by Clarivate Analytics | |
2018 | Member, External Review Team, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University |
Highly Cited Researchers 2017 in “Pharmacology & Toxicology” by Thomson Reuters | |
2017 | Distinguished Alumni Award, Physics department, National Taiwan University |
Highly Cited Researchers 2016 in “Pharmacology & Toxicology” by Thomson Reuters | |
2016 | Lifetime Achievement Award, Chinese American Society of Nanomedicine and Nanobiotechnology |
Keynote speaker, 48th annual Pharmaceutics Graduate Student Research Meeting, University of Missouri Kansas City | |
Honorable speaker for the Applied Chemistry Lecture Series, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, China | |
2015 | Keynote speaker, International Conference on Applied Materials, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taiwan |
Visiting professor, ARC Center of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano Science and Technology. Lecture tour in three Australian universities | |
Keynote speaker, Australian Society of Nanomedicine, Sydney, AU | |
2014 | Keynote speaker, NanoDDS2014 conference, Chapel Hill, NC |
Keynote speaker, Cross-Strait Biomaterials and Controlled Drug Release Symposium, Hsinchu, Taiwan | |
Qiushi Chair Professor, Zhejiang University, China | |
2013 | Distinguished Pharmaceutical Scientist Award, American Society for Pharmaceutical Scientists. This is the highest scientific recognition of AAPS. |
Keynote speaker, Chinese Pharmaceutical Conference, “Lipidic Nanoprecipitates for Drug and Gene Delivery”, Wuhan, China | |
2013 – 16 | Senior Visiting Scholar, Fudan University, China |
2012 | Changjiang Chair Professor, Zhejiang University, China. Selected by the Ministry of Education, People’s Republic of China (declined) |
Qiushi Chair Professor, Zhejiang University, China (declined) | |
Visiting Professor, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’An, China | |
Keynote speaker, Symposium of Advanced Nanomaterials in Biomedicine, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taiwan | |
2012 – 15 | Elected member, Board of Scientific Advisors, Controlled Release Society. |
2011 | Elected Vice Chair, Gordon Research Conference on “Cancer Nanotechnology” |
2010 | Visiting Chair Professor, Chung-Yuan Christian University, Taiwan |
T. Nagai Postdoc Research Achievement Award, Controlled Release Society. Award was presented to both Dr. Sang Kyoon Kim (postdoc) and Professor Leaf Huang (mentor) | |
Distinguished speaker, The Academy of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Japan | |
Distinguished speaker, Global Center of Excellence, University of Shizuoka, Japan | |
Distinguished speaker, Japan Association for The Advancement of Medical Equipment | |
2009 | Honorary Professor, Sichuan University, China |
Plenary speaker, 4th International Conference in Advanced Drug Delivery, Shanghai, China | |
Forum speaker, 60th anniversary of Dalian Institute of Chemistry and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, China | |
2008 | Plenary speaker, The 6th China-Japan-Korea Foresight Joint Symposium on Gene Delivery and International Symposium on Biomaterials, Sanya, China |
2007 | Plenary speaker, annual meeting of The Pharmaceutical Society of Taiwan, Taiwan |
2006 – 2011 | Elected member of the Advisory Board, American Society of Gene Therapy |
2004 | Alec D Bangham MD FRS Achievement Award, Liposome Research Days conference, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan. This is the highest honor in liposome research. |
2003 – 2005 | Distinguished Faculty Committee, University of Pittsburgh |
2003 | Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering |
2001 | Plenary Speaker, 22nd Annual Eino Nelson Memorial Conference, Captiva Island, FL |
1999 – 2001 | “Meet The Professor”, American Society of Gene Therapy Annual Meeting |
1999 – 2005 | The Joseph Koslow Endowed Chair, University of Pittsburgh |
1999 | Plenary Speaker, Japanese Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokushima, Japan |
Research Grand Round, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL | |
1998 – 1999 | Chairman, Non-viral Gene Therapy Committee, American Society for Gene Therapy |
1998 | Fellow, American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists |
1997 | Controlled Release Society Outstanding Pharmaceutical Paper from the 24th International Symposium on Controlled Release of Bioactive Materials |
1996 | Distinguished Lecturer, Chinese Pharmaceutical Society, Republic of China |
1993 | Distinguished Speaker, National Science Commission, Republic of China |
1984 – 1991 | Member, Science Alliance Center of Excellence, University of Tennessee, Knoxville |
1981 – 1986 | Research Career Development Award, NIH |
1983 | Chancellor’s Research Scholar, University of Tennessee, Knoxville |
1975 – 1976 | U.S. Public Health Service Research Fellowship |
1974 – 1975 | Carnegie Institution of Washington Fellowship |
1970 – 1971 | Matthey-Bishop Pre-doctoral Fellowship |
News
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Huang, Kabanov and Roth Recognized for Research Influence
Three faculty members from the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy were recognized on the Clarivate Analytics list of Highly Cited Researchers for 2018. Leaf Huang, Ph.D., Alexander Kabanov, Ph.D., Dr.Sci., and Bryan Roth, Ph.D., M.D., were among 6,000 scientists worldwide … Read more
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Huang, Roth among 2017’s Most Highly Cited Researchers
Leaf Huang, Ph.D., and Bryan Roth, M.D., Ph.D., both faculty members at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, were included in Clarivate Analytics’ roster of the most highly cited researchers of 2017. Clarivate Analytics assembled the roster of more than … Read more
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Huang Receives 2018 Drug Targeting Lifetime Achievement Award
Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor Leaf Huang, Ph.D., is the recipient of the Journal of Drug Targeting Lifetime Achievement Award for 2018 for his many outstanding contributions to drug delivery and targeting. The Lifetime Achievement Award is an annual award given … Read more
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Eshelman Institute for Innovation Awards $9.4 Million to Fund First Round of Innovative Ideas
The Eshelman Institute for Innovation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill awarded nearly $9.4 million in its inaugural round of funding for innovative ideas submitted by faculty and staff at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. The … Read more
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UNC Researchers Awarded $11.3 Million for Cancer Nanotechnology Research
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers received an $11.3 million, five-year grant to conduct multiple studies exploring the use of nanoparticles to create cancer vaccines and improve cancer drug delivery and responses. The grant is the third in … Read more
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Remembering Feng Liu, PhD, 1955–2014
Feng Liu, PhD, a research professor in the Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics, died Thursday, July 24, after being assaulted and robbed Wednesday, July 23, while walking in a neighborhood near campus. A memorial service will be held Saturday, August 2, … Read more
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AAPS Honors Huang with Distinguished Pharmaceutical Scientist Award
Leaf Huang, PhD, is the 2013 recipient of the Distinguished Pharmaceutical Scientist Award given by the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists. Huang is a Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor in the School’s Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics and is a member of … Read more
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Pharmaceutical Startups Picked for Investors Showcase
Qualiber Inc. and Capture Pharmaceuticals, two pharmaceutical startup companies founded by faculty members at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy, have been invited to present in the University Startups Showcase. The event will connect the best university startup companies, as … Read more
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Mike Jay to Chair Molecular Pharmaceutics
Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor Michael “Mike” Jay, PhD, will succeed Leaf Huang, PhD, as the new chair of the Division of Molecular Pharmaceutics at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy as of April 1. Huang, who is also an Eshelman … Read more
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UNC Gets $100,000 Grant to Commercialize Huang, Kohn Inventions
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has received $100,000 from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center to advance the commercial development of technologies created by UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy scientists Leaf Huang, PhD, and Hal Kohn, PhD. Technology transfer … Read more