His research focuses on the development of nanomaterials for healthcare and other medical applications. Zhang was a postdoctoral associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) during 2006-2008, where his research focused on designing novel nanoparticles for targeted therapeutics and diagnostics of cardiovascular diseases and prostate cancer. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign (UIUC) in 2006. His Ph.D. research involved liposome-nanoparticle complexes, dynamics of single lipids and proteins in lipid membranes, and phases and phase transitions of biomembranes. He received his M.S. and B.E. degrees in Chemical Engineering from Tsinghua University in China in 2002 and 2000, respectively.