About | XPad: XJTLU Peptide and Drug Research Group

Led by Dr. Antony Kam (Department of Biological Sciences) and Dr. Shining Loo (Wisdom Lake Academy of Pharmacy) at Xi'an JiaoTong Liverpool University, XPad (XJTLU Peptide and Drug) is a collaborative research group at the forefront of peptide-based technologies. We leverage our expertise in molecular pharmacology, synthetic biology, and chemical biology to develop innovative solutions for:

• Therapeutics: Designing next-generation drugs with targeted precision to combat various diseases.

• Diagnostics: Creating highly accurate and personalized medical tests for early disease detection and personalized treatment.

• Biomaterials: Engineering advanced materials for tissue regeneration and repair, promoting healing and improving lives.

• Drug Delivery Systems: Revolutionizing how therapeutics are delivered safely and effectively, maximizing their impact.

The history of XPad is rooted within Professor James P. Tam's renowned lab at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, where both Dr. Loo and Dr Kam honed their expertise under his mentorship.

Professor James P. Tam holds the esteemed positions of Professor of the Herbalomics and Drug Discovery Laboratory and Lee Wee Nam Professor at the School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore since 2001. Additionally, since 2008, he has served as the Director of the Synzymes and Natural Products Center (SYNC). Professor Tam is also the Founding Director of the Biological Research Center and the Double-Degree Program in Biomedical Science and Chinese Medicine at NTU. Professor Tam received his Ph.D. in University of Wisconsin, Madison and held professorial appointments at Rockefeller University, Vanderbilt University and The Scripps Research Institute.

During his time as a member of Bruce Merrifield's group at The Rockefeller University in 1976, Professor Tam's interest in the chemical synthesis of proteins and complex peptides was ignited. This led to a fruitful collaboration with Bruce Merrifield, spanning almost 16 years. Together, they focused on addressing the challenges and advancements in protein synthesis through solid-phase techniques. This period of collaboration coincided with Bruce Merrifield's groundbreaking work, which earned him the prestigious Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1984. This collaboration played a pivotal role in shaping Professor Tam's own passion for peptide synthesis and his subsequent contributions to the field.

Professor Tam has made significant contributions to the field of therapeutics, particularly in the discovery, design, and development of orally active biologics, immunologics, and anti-infectives. He has extensive expertise in peptide and protein chemistry, selective chemoenzymatic ligation, synthesis and oxidative folding of cysteine-rich peptides, and has published over 330 papers in these areas of research [H-index 92, google citations 29872].

His pioneering research includes the invention of peptide dendrimers as synthetic vaccines and protein quaternary structure mimetics, the development of chemoselective peptide ligation methods and the discovery of peptide ligases, as well as the discovery of ultra-stable cysteine-rich peptides from medicinal plants for therapeutic applications. Many of his publications have become seminal works with profound impacts on chemical biology and drug discovery, earning him various prestigious awards, including the Bruce Merrifield Award from the American Peptide Society, Ralph Hirschman Award from the American Chemical Society, Akabori Memorial Award from the Japanese Peptide Society, Josef Rudinger Memorial Lecture Award from the European Peptide Society, and Murray Goodman Scientific Excellence & Mentorship Award from the American Peptide Society.

Master students:

Ms Yueyi Jia [BIO]

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) students:

• Group 2023-0071 [BIO]
  Mr Junqiang Niu, Ms Yifei Wang, Ms Yige Xu, Ms Yudi Liu, Ms Yue Yao, Mr Zhouxiang Gu
• Group 2023-0072 [AoP]
  Mr Jingyu Jiang, Ms Shiqi Wang, Ms Ye Liu, Ms Yijia Yao, Ms Yunshan Tong, Ms Ziyu Yuan

XPad Lab @ SB356 [BIO]

Main benches

Peptide synthesis 

Cell culture 

Solid Phase Extraction

XPad Lab @ P020 [AoP]

Main benches

In-house protein purification system

In-house 5L bioreactor

Temperature controlled bacterial expression

Core facilities @ BIO

Flow cytometer

Zeiss confocal microscope

Oxford nanopore sequencing

Microplate reader

Core facilities @ AoP

Akta FPLC

Agilent prep-HPLC

Agilent Lc-qToF-MS/MS

Thermofisher orbitrap ELITE

Olympus spinning disk confocal microscope

Peptide synthesizer

Flash chromatography

DLS

HPLC

Cytation 5

Freeze drier

Core facilities @ CHEM

Prep-HPLC

HPLC