Meibao Zhuang, Ph.D.

Representative Engagements

• Prepares regulatory strategy and data development plans to guide clients in making strategic decisions for the next phase of pesticide product development and commercialization strategy.
• Prepares new pesticide product submission or amendment packages and assists clients in negotiating with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to obtain timely approval of products.
• Spearheaded the preparation and submission of a complex M009 pesticide device determination, engaging directly with EPA to successfully classify a product utilizing novel technology as a device under FIFRA, thereby bypassing the need for full chemical pesticide registration.
• Devised a non-standard efficacy testing methodology to generate critical regulatory data, and compiled a comprehensive evidence package to successfully negotiate and obtain California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) concurrence for a barrier product.
• Prepared a regulatory dossier and other submission documents for an international client to list its new drug excipient products on the National Medical Products Administration website for China market access.
• Provides technical and regulatory support to multiple international companies for new chemical substance registration/notification and post market compliance requirements in China.
• Assists clients on comment preparation and engagement with EPA and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the use of a high-profile chemical product.

Articles and Writings

• Herman, R., Zhuang, M., Storer, N., Cnudde, F., and Delaney, B. Risk-only assessment of genetically engineered crops is risky. Trends in Plant Science, 24(1): 58-68 (2018).

• Guttikonda, S., Marri, P., Mammadov, J., Ye, L., Soe, K., Richey, K., Cruse, J., Zhuang, M., Gao, Z., Evans, C., Rounsley, S., and Kumpatla, S. Molecular characterization of transgenic events using next generation sequencing approach. PLOS ONE 11(2): e0149515. doi:10.1371 (2016).

• Herman, R., Song, P., and Zhuang, M. Safety risks of cryptic reading frames and gene disruption due to crop transgenesis: What are the odds? GM Crops 2(1): 4-6 (2011).

• Wright, T., Shan, G., Walsh, T., Lira, J., Cui, C., Song, P., Zhuang, M., Arnold, N., Lin, G., Yau, K., Russell, S., Cicchillo, R., Peterson, M., Simpson, D., Zhou, N., Ponsamuel, J., and Zhang, Z. Robust crop resistance to broadleaf and grass herbicides provided by aryloxyalkanoate dioxygenase Trangenes. PNAS. 107(47): 20240-20245 (2010).

• Pereira, E., Siqueira, H., Zhuang, M., Storer, N., and Siegfried, B. Measurements of Cry1F binding and activity of luminal gut proteases in susceptible and Cry1F resistant Ostrinia nubilalis larvae (Lepidoptera: Crambidae). J. Invertebr. Pathol., 103(1):1-7 (2010).

• Zheng, Z., Xu, X., Crosley, R., Greenwalt, S., Sun, Y., Blakeslee, B., Wang, L., Ni, W., Sopko, M., Yao, C., Yau, K., Burton, S., Zhuang, M., McCaskill, D., Gachotte, D. Thompson, M., and Greene, T. The protein kinase SnRK2.6 mediates the regulation of sucrose metabolism and plant growth in Arabidopsis. Plant Physiol., 153(1): 99-113 (2010).

• Aimanova, K., Zhuang, M., and Gill, S. Expression of Cry1Ac cadherin receptors in insect midgut and cell lines. J. Invertebr. Pathol. 92(3): 178-187 (2006).

• Xie, R., Zhuang, M., Ross, L., Gomez, I., Oltean, D., Bravo, A., Soberon, M., and Gill, S. Single amino acid mutations in the cadherin receptor from Heliothis virescens affect its toxin binding ability to Cry1A toxins. J. Biol. Chem. 280(9): 8416-8425 (2005).

• Bravo, A., Gómez, I., Conde, J., Muñoz-Garay, C., Sánchez, J., Miranda, R., Zhuang, M., Gill, S., and Soberón, M. Oligomerization triggers binding of a Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ab pore-forming toxin to aminopeptidase N receptor leading to insertion into membrane microdomains. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1667(1): 38-46 (2004).

• Zhuang, M., and Gill, S. “Mode of action of Bacillus thuringiensis toxins.” In Chemistry of crop protection: Progress and prospects in science and regulation, ed. by Voss, G., and Ramos, G. 2003, 213-234.

• Zhuang, M., Oltean, D., Gómez, I., Pullikuth, A., Soberón, M., Bravo, A., and Gill, S. Heliothis virescens and Manduca sexta lipid rafts are involved in Cry1A toxin binding to the midgut epithelium and subsequent pore formation. J. Biol. Chem. 277(16): 13863-13872 (2002).

Presentations

• “FIFRA Fundamentals,” Lisa R. Burchi, Heather F. Collins, MS, Dana S. Lateulere, Meibao Zhuang, Ph.D., Chemical Watch (September 24-25, 2025).

• “Emerging Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) legal and policy issues and the Congress: Implications for the pesticide community,” Biocides North America 2023, (February 28, 2023).