PEOPLE

Qihao is passionate about advancing our understanding of how gut microbiota influence xenobiotic metabolism and its broader implications for human health.

Before joining Pitt Pharmacy as a tenure-track assistant professor, Qihao completed his postdoctoral training with Dr. Jason Crawford at Yale Chemistry, where he uncovered how human gut commensal microbiota influence GPCR drug activity through diverse biotransformations.

Qihao earned his Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry from Zhejiang University of Technology under the guidance of Dr. Hong Wang and Dr. Yue-Wei Guo. His research, inspired by marine chemical ecology, focused on discovering bioactive marine natural products (MNPs). As a joint-training graduate student with Dr. Yue-Wei Guo at the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, he characterized over 100 MNPs.

During his Ph.D., Qihao joined Dr. David Rowley’s lab at the University of Rhode Island as a visiting research fellow, where he elucidated small molecule-mediated chemical interactions between marine bacterial pathogens and probiotics. His work revealed the pathogenic mechanisms of these molecules and their potential therapeutic applications.

Following his Ph.D., he joined Princeton University as a postdoctoral research associate in Dr. Mohamed Donia’s lab, developing high-throughput, unbiased methodologies to investigate biochemical transformations of orally administered drugs by the human gut microbiome. He later continued his pursuit of novel antibiotic discovery in Dr. Tim Bugni‘s lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he integrated multi-omics approaches, medicinal chemistry, and mode-of-action studies to develop new antibiotic drug leads.

Qihao enjoys biking, swimming, and building Legos when he is out of the lab.

Yansong received his Ph.D. from the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, where he focused on the structure and bioactivity of natural Polycyclic Polyprenylated Acylphloroglucinol (PPAP) from Hypericum genus. He subsequently carried out postdoctoral research at the Kunming Institute of Botany, University of South Carolina, and University of Texas at Austin.

Yansong’s research lies at the interface of chemistry, metabolomics, and microbiology. He is particularly interested in exploring how gut microbes produce small-molecule natural products and how these metabolites mediate host–microbe ecological interactions. His work aims to uncover novel bioactive molecules and provide new insights into the chemical basis of host–microbiome communication.

4. Yu, W.-C.; Peng, Z.; Ye, Y.-S.; Wu, Q.* Biosynthetic Crosstalk in Bacteria: Routes to Chimeric Natural Products. Nat. Prod. Rep. 2026, accepted.

3. Gbadebo, O. S.; Masibag, A. G.; Rosario, M. E.; He, R.; Ye, Y.-S.; Gomez-Chiarri, M.; Wu, Q.*; Rowley, D. C.* Membrane Vesicle-Mediated Delivery of Antibacterial Lipopeptides by Pseudoalteromonas piscicida. ACS Chem. Biol. 2026, accepted.

2. Peng, Z.; Ye, Y.-S.; Wu, Q.* Structural diversity and biological activities of secondary metabolites from the marine soft coral Clavularia. MarineMedicine 2025, accepted.

1. Ranson, H. J.; Ye, Y.-S.; Petukhova, V. Z.; Green-Saxena, A.; He, R.; Sun, J.; Godugu, B.; Sanchez, L. M.; Wu, Q.*; Rowley, D. C.* Lipopeptides and antibiotics from a marine Bacillus pumilus mediate a potential ‘catch and kill’ effect on pathogenetic Vibrio parahaemolyticus. mSystems 2025, accepted.

Wenchao earned his Ph.D. in chemical biology from Zhejiang University of Technology, where his research focused on metabolomics and natural product discovery. His work has centered on developing analytical and computational approaches to identify bioactive metabolites in complex biological systems.

Wenchao’s research lies at the intersection of chemical biology, metabolomics, and data science. He is particularly interested in integrating metabolomics with AI-driven methods to systematically explore chemical space. His work seeks to overcome current limitations in tandem mass spectrometry data availability and to accelerate the discovery of new small molecules, providing new insights into microbial chemistry and the diversity of functional metabolites.

1. Yu, W.-C.; Peng, Z.; Ye, Y.-S.; Wu, Q.* Biosynthetic Crosstalk in Bacteria: Routes to Chimeric Natural Products. Nat. Prod. Rep. 2026, accepted.

Nana received her Ph.D. from the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, where she studied the discovery, structural elucidation, and bioactivity evaluation of plant-derived natural products. Her doctoral research focused on polycyclic polyprenylated acylphloroglucinols (PPAPs) from Hypericum species.

Nana’s current research in the Wu Lab focuses on two areas. One area centers on marine natural product discovery, where she uses metabolomics-, genomics-, and activity-guided approaches to investigate bioactive small molecules produced by marine microbes. Her second area focuses on gut microbial metabolism of drugs and xenobiotics, with an emphasis on defining how gut microbes transform these compounds into new metabolites and how these reactions shape host-microbiome chemical interactions.

Delong is interested in studying how microbial metabolites regulate gut physiology in the Wu Lab. His previous research focused on the pharmacology of the gut–liver axis under the guidance of Professor Pengfei Xu at Wuhan University. Outside the lab, he enjoys photography, traveling, and learning about history and culture. His favorite sports are cycling and swimming.

Max was an undergraduate researcher in the Wu Lab at Pitt, where he studied microbial metabolites from the gut microbiota and marine microorganisms. His M.S. research focuses on discovering novel specialized metabolites through integrated metabolomic and genomic analyses.

1. 2026 Undergraduate Teaching Fellowship in Chemistry
2. 2026 Undergraduate Teaching Award

1. Chiang, C.-K.; Dibello, B. S.; Park, J.; Rondinella, J.; Wu, Q.* Gut Bacterial O-Demethylation in Microbiome-Dependent Drug Response. Gut Microbes Rep. 2026, online. Invited review.

Adam graduated from The Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Chemistry. His previous research experience includes recombinant protein expression and purification of Protein Kinase A while volunteering in a graduate research laboratory. This work contributed to studies investigating protein phosphorylation, signaling mechanisms, and conformational dynamics. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, where his research interests include drug metabolism, gut microbial enzymes, and microbiome-drug interactions.

Yiqi was trained as a medicinal chemist and is passionate about optimizing small molecules to improve their biological activity. In the Wu Lab, she will optimize marine natural products with antimicrobial properties to enhance their potency.

Josh is an undergraduate student at Pitt. His research interests include discovering novel molecules from marine bacteria.

1. Chiang, C.-K.; Dibello, B. S.; Park, J.; Rondinella, J.; Wu, Q.* Gut Bacterial O-Demethylation in Microbiome-Dependent Drug Response. Gut Microbes Rep. 2026, online. Invited review.

Jess is an undergraduate student in Pitt’s Frederick Honors College. Her research in the Wu Lab focuses on developing high-throughput mass spectrometry technologies to study chemical interactions between the human gut microbiota and xenobiotics.

1. 2026 Frederick Honors College Fall Fellowship

1. Chiang, C.-K.; Dibello, B. S.; Park, J.; Rondinella, J.; Wu, Q.* Gut Bacterial O-Demethylation in Microbiome-Dependent Drug Response. Gut Microbes Rep. 2026, online. Invited review.

Yun is an undergraduate student at Pitt. Her research in the Wu Lab focuses on identifying novel metabolites from marine bacteria through integrated metabolomic and genomic analyses.

Rachel is an undergraduate biological sciences major at the Frederick Honors College. Her research interests include bioacoustics and marine pharmacology.