Zhiwei Feng

Zhiwei Feng is an Assistant Professor at the School of Pharmacy, University of Pittsburgh, serving as Assistant Director of the Computational Chemical Genomics Screening Center (CCGS). He holds a PhD in Computational Chemistry/Materials from China and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Pittsburgh. With over 20 years of experience in drug discovery tools, his expertise includes computer-aided drug design (13 years), antibody drug discovery (6 years), and virtual reality apps for scientific visualization (7 years).

Education:

• PhD in Computational Chemistry/Materials (2013), China
• MS and BS in Computer Sciences (2010 and 2007, respectively)

Research Focus:

• AI-driven drug design (antibodies, small molecules)
• ML/DL-based chemogenomics platforms (e.g., Pain-CKB, Virus-CKB)
• Targeted therapies for pain, cancer, and stem cell expansion
• Systems pharmacology and PK/PD modeling

His work emphasizes computational tools for drug repurposing, GPCR modulation, and anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug discovery.

Key Achievements:

• Developed IsAb computational antibody design protocol
• Co-inventor of U.S. Patent 10,899,702 (TRPV1-based pain treatment)
• Over 65 publications in top journals like Cell, Nature Communications, and ACS Chemical Neuroscience.

Lab & Collaborations:

• CCGS integrates computational and experimental methods for drug discovery
• Active collaborations in structural biology, systems pharmacology, and clinical data analysis