Steven Liang

Companies

• Assistant Professor of Radiology Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School (2013)
• Instructor of Radiology Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (2012 — 2012)
• NSERC Fellow Harvard University (2010 — 2012)
• Ph.D. in Synthetic Organic Chemistry The University of British Columbia (2004 — 2010)
• Research Assistant (Undergraduate) Tianjin University (1999 — 2003)

Education

• NSERC Fellow Harvard University (2010 — 2012)
• Ph.D. The University of British Columbia (2004 — 2010)
• B.Sc. Tianjin University (1999 — 2003)

Selected Awards

K. C. Wong Memorial Scholarship (2001); Taketa Scholarship (2001-2002); Chinese Government Excellent Overseas Student Award (2008); University of British Columbia Graduate Fellowship (2008); Gladys Estella Laird Research Fellowship (2008); UBC Graduate Study Travel Award (2009); ACS Division of Organic Chemistry Travel Award (2009); NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship (2010-2012); ACS Leadership Development Scholarship (2012); Drew University Medicinal Chemistry Scholarship (2013); ADDF Young Investigator Award, First Place (2013); The Dr. Michael J. Welch Foundation Travel Grant (2014); Young Investigator Award (1st Place), Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (2014); NIH Career Development Award (2014); YCC/CIBA Travel Grant (2015); NIH Early Career Award in Chemistry of Drug Abuse and Addiction (ECHEM) (2017); Best Poster Award, Molecular Targeting Probes – Radioactive & Nonradioactive Track (2nd Place), SNMMI (2017); Thieme Chemistry Journal Award (2018); ACS Academic Young Investigator Award Symposium (2018); SNMMI Future Leaders Academy (2019); Hal O'Brien Rising Star Award (2019); OKeanos-CAPA Young Investigator Award at the Chemical and Biology interface (2019).

Selected Publications

• "Spirocyclic hypervalent iodine(III)-mediated radiofluorination of non-activated and hindered aromatics" Nat. Commun. 2014, 5, 4365.
• "A highly specific probe for sensing hydrogen sulfide in live cells based on copper-initiated fluorogen with aggregation-induced emission characteristics" Theranostics 2014, 4, 1233-8.
• "Iodonium Ylide–Mediated Radiofluorination of 18F-FPEB and Validation for Human Use" J. Nucl. Med. 2015, 56, 489-492.
• "Ortho-stabilized 18F-azido click agents and application in PET imaging of single-stranded DNA aptamers" Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2015, 54, 12777-81.
• "18F-labeled Single-Stranded DNA Aptamer for PET Imaging of Protein Tyrosine Kinase-7 Expression" J. Nucl. Med. 2015, 56, 1780-5.
• "Difluorocarbene-derived Trifluoromethylthiolation and [18F]Trifluoromethylthiolation of Aliphatic Electrophiles" Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2015, 54, 13236-40.
• "Enzyme-Mediated Modification of Single Domain Antibodies for Imaging Modalities with different Characteristics" Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 528-33.
• "Synthesis and Preclinical Evaluation of Sulfonamido-based [11C-Carbonyl]-Carbamates and Ureas for Imaging Monoacylglycerol Lipase" Theranostics 2016, 6, 1145-59.
• "Mechanistic Studies and Radiofluorination of Structurally Diverse Pharmaceuticals with Spirocyclic Iodonium(III) Ylides" Chem. Sci. 2016, 7, 4407-17.
• "Discovery of a Highly Selective Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3 Inhibitor (PF-04802367) that Modulates Tau Phosphorylation in Brain: Translation for PET Neuroimaging" Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 9601-5.
• "Practical Synthesis of 18F-Difluoromethylarenes from Aryl (Pseudo) Halides" Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 10786-90.
• "Novel Path to Aryl(isoquinoline)iodonium(III) Salts and Synthesis of Radiofluorinated Isoquinolines" Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 11882-6.
• "An unconventional mechanistic insight on SCF3 formation from difluorocarbene and application to 18F-labeled α-SCF3 carbonyl compounds" Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, in press.
• "A Facile Radiolabeling of [18F]FDPA via Spirocyclic Iodonium Ylides: Preliminary PET Imaging Studies in Preclinical Models of Neuroinflammation" J. Med. Chem. 2017, 60, 5222-5227.
• "In vitro and in vivo evaluation of 11C-labeled azetidine-carboxylates for imaging monoacylglycerol lipase by PET imaging studies" J. Med. Chem., 2018, 61, 2278-2291.
• "Design, Synthesis and Evaluation of Reversible and Irreversible Monoacylglycerol Lipase Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Tracers Using a ‘Tail Switching’ Strategy on a Piperazinyl Azetidine Skeleton" J. Med. Chem., 2019, accepted.
• "Design, Synthesis and Evaluation of 18F-labeled Monoacylglycerol lipase Inhibitors as Novel Positron Emission Tomography Probes" J. Med. Chem., 2019, accepted.
• "Structural Basis for Achieving GSK-3beta Inhibition with High Potency, Selectivity and Brain Exposure for PET Imaging and Drug Discovery" J. Med. Chem., 2019, accepted.
• “Facile 18F Labeling of Non-activated Arenes via a Spirocyclic Iodonium(III) Ylide Method and its Application in the Synthesis of the mGluR5 PET Radiopharmaceutical [18F]FPEB” Nature Protocol, 2019, 14, 1530-1545.
• "Identification and Development of A New Positron Emission Tomography Ligand 4-(2-Fluoro-4-[11C]methoxyphenyl)-5-((1-methyl-1H-pyrazol-3-yl)methoxy)picolinamide for Imaging of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor Subtype 2 (mGlu2)" Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 2020, accepted.
• "Synthesis and preliminary studies of 11C-labeled tetrahydro-1,7-naphthyridine-2-carboxamides for PET imaging of metabotropic glutamate receptor 2" Theranostics, 2020, accepted.