Q&A with Lining Zheng: A Recipe for Better Drug Delivery Inside the Body
June 22, 2026Dr. Lining Zheng, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, is researching how proteins in our bodies interact with nanoparticles that carry drugs to specific cells to understand why some drug delivery approaches work better than others.
For Lining Zheng, a love of baking led her to the science lab, where she now studies how to design better ways to deliver medicines inside the body.
In high school, Zheng’s family noticed her passion for experimenting in the kitchen and encouraged her to pursue chemistry, since both activities rely on precisely mixing ingredients to create chemical reactions.
“Looking back, I find it really interesting that one of the reasons I stepped onto this path is because of baking,” she said. “Unfortunately, I don’t really bake anymore because I find myself having a hard time saying no to overeating desserts.”
As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, Zheng received a 2026 PhRMA Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in Drug Delivery for her research focused on lipid nanoparticles — tiny, fat-based particles that can carry drugs to specific cells. By understanding how proteins in our bodies interact with these nanoparticles, she aims to uncover why some drug delivery approaches work better than others, with the goal of helping develop more effective treatments for diseases that are difficult to target.
Watch this video to learn more about Zheng and her research.
