Zhibing Zhang, Associate Professor
$150,000 / 2 years
Awarded 2019

​Zhibing Zhang, PhD

Wayne State University
Detroit, MI

About
Dr. Zhibing Zhang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology at Wayne State University. He also holds a joint appointment at Department of Obstetrics/Gynecology. He has been working in the field of sperm motility and spermatogenesis, particularly spermiogenesis, for almost two decades.

Our Grant
MCI is supporting the Zhang lab to study the meiosis expressed gene 1(MEIG1)/Parkin co-regulated gene(PACRG) complex, which is present in the manchette of elongating spermatids. The manchette is a transient microtubule-containing structure present only in elongating spermatids. One proposed function of the manchette is to transport cargo proteins for sperm flagella assembly by intra-manchette transport (IMT). Global disruption of Meig1 in mice results in severely defective spermiogenesis and failure of flagellogenesis. As such, MEIG1 is an excellent target for the development of male-based contraceptive drugs by blocking interactions of MEIG1/PACRG.

MCI will support Dr. Zhang and his lab to optimize a cell-free luciferase assay to identify small molecule inhibitors of MEIG1/PACRG interaction. These small molecule inhibitors have potential for the development of male-based contraceptives.

MCI Grantee: Wayne State University (Dr. Zhibing Zhang)

Publications
MEIG1 determines the manchette localization of IFT20 and IFT88, two intraflagellar transport components in male germ cells
Yi Tian Yap, Lin Shi, David Zhang, Qian Huang, Fabiha Siddika, Zhenyu Wang, Wei Li, Zhibing Zhang

A single amino acid mutation in the mouse MEIG1 protein disrupts a cargo transport system necessary for sperm formation
Wei Li, Qian Huang, Ling Zhang, Hong Liu, David Zhang, Shuo Yuan, Yitian Yap, Wei Qu, Rita Shiang, Shizheng Song, Rex A. Hess, Zhibing Zhang