NR45 Awards in Nanomaterial Self-assembly, 2024

 

Jiarong Cai is an Associate Professor in the College of Chemistry at Nankai University. Her research focuses on chiral biosensing at inorganic nanointerfaces, with particular emphasis on enhancing the sensitivity of conformational analyses. To address the inherently weak signals in chiral detection, Dr. Cai has pioneered a series of advanced sensing strategies, achieving several key breakthroughs: (1) engineering chiral interfaces that selectively interact with photons of distinct angular momenta, in combination with plasmonic near-field enhancement, resulting in a four-order-of-magnitude improvement in polarization detection sensitivity—surpassing current international benchmarks; (2) designing a novel chiral nanomembrane ion channel that leverages nanoscale confinement to amplify enantiomer discrimination with exceptional sensitivity; and (3) overcoming the synthetic challenges of high-brightness circularly polarized luminescent quantum dots, and establishing a visualization-driven chiral sensing methodology. Dr. Cai has authored multiple first- and corresponding-author publications in leading journals including Nat. Nanotechnol., J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., and Anal. Chem. She has led five major research projects supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and other competitive programs, and was selected for the China Association for Science and Technology’s Future Female Scientists Program.

Interface-driven self-assembly: A robust strategy for chiral generation and amplification in inorganic nanomaterials

 

Jie Chao received her Ph.D. from Nanjing University in 2008. In 2006–2007, she was a visiting student in Prof. Seeman’s laboratory at New York University. After her postdoctoral research at Nanjing University, she joined the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP) in 2011 as an associate professor. In 2014, she moved to Nanjing University of Post & Telecommunications as a professor. Her research interests focus on DNA assembly and bioapplications. Biomolecular machines in living organisms perceive and judge environment through specific structures, making decisions and executing complex tasks through defined movements. However, constructing such artificial molecular machines presents a significant scientific challenge. Prof. Chao’s group systematically investigated the design principles, dynamic regulation, and hierarchical assembly methods of nucleic acid materials, establishing a new system characterized by highly precise and controllable structures and functions. Furthermore, self-adaptive and self-driven technologies for nucleic acids were developed, leading to the establishment of a bio-computing platform and artificial molecular machines that enable deep searches and parallel computations. Then they proposed novel strategies for pattern recognition and dynamic tracking using artificial molecular machines, revealing the intrinsic mechanisms of biomolecular recognition and achieving highly sensitive detection of biomarkers and precise treatment of thrombosis.

DNA-based plasmonic nanostructures with tailored optical responses

 

Huan Cong obtained his Bachelor's degree from Peking University in 2006, where he worked in the laboratory of Prof. Zhenfeng Xi. He earned his Ph.D. at Boston University in 2011 under the supervision of Prof. John A. Porco, Jr. He then relocated to the group of Prof. Gregory C. Fu at MIT, and moved with Prof. Fu to Caltech, as a postdoctoral scholar. In 2015, he joined the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) as a Principal Investigator with an adjunct professor appointment at the School of Future Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research group focus on the synthesis and properties of conjugated multi-macrocyclic supramolecules.

Mechanically interlocked molecules consisting of radially conjugated macrocycles

 

Pengfei Duan earned his Ph.D. in 2011 from the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, where his doctoral research centered on supramolecular chirality in self-assembled systems and the exploration of chiral nanostructures formed through self-assembly. Following his Ph.D., he pursued postdoctoral research at Kyushu University, focusing on the functionalization of organized excited triplet states via molecular self-assembly. In 2015, he joined the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology. His current research is primarily dedicated to the photochemistry and physics of chiral nanoassemblies, aiming to advance the understanding and application of these systems in nanotechnology and materials science.

Chiral photonic micro-particles enabling circularly polarized luminescence for NIR-II optical anti-counterfeiting

 

Jie He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Polymer Materials Science and Engineering from Sichuan University and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Université de Sherbrooke in 2010. Following postdoctoral research at the University of Maryland, he joined the faculty at the University of Connecticut in 2014. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and the Polymer Program at the Institute of Materials Science, University of Connecticut. Dr. He's research group focuses on the design and synthesis of hybrid polymer–metal materials inspired by metalloenzymes, with the goal of activating small molecules. His expertise spans synthetic materials chemistry, surface chemistry of nanomaterials, and electrocatalysis.

Unconventional seed-mediated growth of silver with a macromolecular NHC-Ag precursor

 

Aleksandar P. Ivanov is Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Director of the Network of Electromagnetic and Biochemical Sensors at Imperial College London. He was awarded his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Imperial College London in 2012 and also holds degrees in Physics, Molecular Biology, and Computer Engineering. His research is focused on developing nanoscale platforms for single-molecule detection, providing innovative approaches for direct label-free sensing of biomarkers across a wide range of conditions, including various forms of cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration, and infectious diseases. Among his key contributions are: i) nanopore-based methods for multiplexed biomarker fingerprinting, allowing direct sensing from liquid biopsies; ii) nanotweezers for single-molecule single-cell and single-organelle biopsy, which facilitate spatial and temporal genetic and transcriptomic analyses in the same living cell; iii) novel quantum tunnelling single-molecule probes for the analysis of nucleic acids and proteins.

Reconfigurable DNA origami hinges for nanopore detection of microRNA

 

Xiang Lan obtained his Ph.D. degree in Physical Chemistry from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2015, in the field of DNA nanotechnology. He carried out postdoctoral researches in Arizona State University working with Prof. Hao Yan and later in Rice University with Prof. Stephan Link. He joined the center for advanced low-dimension materials in Donghua University in 2019. Prof. Xiang Lan works in the cross-disciplinary fields of nano-self-assembly, nanophotonics, and nanobiotechnology. Through nucleic acid and organic molecule designing and nano-engineering, his group explores colloidal metamaterials and metaoptics, molecular and supramolecular plasmonics, and optical spectroscopic biosensing. The current research is focused on the fundamental phenomena and principle in the chiral light-matter interactions, manufacturing methods of chiral colloidal metasurfaces, and their applications in biology, chemistry, and optoelectronics.

Single-particle insights into the optical activity of planar-layered chiral plasmonic superstructures

 

Daishun Ling is a Distinguished Professor in Frontiers Science Center for Transformative Molecules & School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering & School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Prof. Ling’s primary research interest has been focusing on the assembly/disassembly chemistry, artificial ion channels, stimuli-responsive biomaterials, molecular imaging and dynamic nanoassembly based drug delivery systems. Up to now, he has published > 180 papers (with over 16,000 citations) in prominent international journals including Nat. Nanotechnol., Nat. Mater., Nat. Biomed. Eng., Nat. Commun., Matter, J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., Adv. Mater., Natl. Sci. Rev., ACS Cent. Sci., etc. He has been serving as the Associate Editor of Exploration, Theme Editor of Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev., Academic Editor of The Innovation, and the Editorial Board Member of Sci. Bull., Med. Comm., and J. Control Release. He received the “Journal of Nanobiotechnology Rising Star Award” (2021), Leading Talent of National High-Level Talents Special Support Plan (2021), National Science Fund for Excellent Youth Scholars (2019), First prize of Science and Technology Progress Award of Ministry of Education (2018), Second prize of Science and Technology award of Zhejiang Pharmaceutical Association (2018) and so on.

Atomic-level magnetism modulation of nanocrystals for biomedical imaging

 

Guofeng Liu is currently a Professor of Special Appointment (Eastern Scholar) at the School of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tongji University. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Huazhong Agricultural University, his Master’s degree from East China University of Science and Technology under the supervision of Professor He Tian, and his Ph.D. from Shanghai Jiao Tong University under the guidance of Professor Chuanliang Feng. Following the completion of his doctoral studies, he conducted postdoctoral research at Nanyang Technological University under the mentorship of Professor Yanli Zhao, focusing on supramolecular hydrogels and chiral self-assembly. His current research focuses on non-equilibrium chemical self-assembly systems, chiral soft matter, and circularly polarized luminescent materials.

Chirality inversion via van der Waals interactions to π–π stacking in non-equilibrium assembly within a narrow temperature range

 

Jian-Wei Liu earned his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering and Technology from Hefei University of Technology in 2007. He completed his Ph.D. in Nanochemistry under the supervision of Prof. Shu-Hong Yu at the University of Science and Technology of China in 2013. In 2019, he was promoted to professor at the University of Science and Technology of China. His research focuses on the controllable assembly of one-dimensional nanostructures and the exploration of their functional properties. By designing surfactants and tailoring nanowire surfaces, he investigates the wetting, adsorption, and assembly behaviors of nanowires in diverse environments and interfaces. His work emphasizes the relationship between the structure and properties of nanowire assemblies, aiming to develop novel flexible functional nanowire devices.

Unique nanowire assemblies enables superior anti-interference capability for accurate structural failure prediction and soft robotics

 

Xiaoguo Liu is a full researcher in Shanghai Jiao Tong University. His research interests include biomimetic mineralization, DNA self-assembly, and synchrotron SAXS for dilute solution systems, with a focus on addressing challenging problems in the field of bio/biomimetic-mineralization, such as nanoscale programmable design of biomimetic structures. He received his B.S. from Jilin University in 2008 and his Ph.D. from the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 2013. From 2013 to 2018, he served as a postdoctoral fellow and later an assistant professor at the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics. In 2018, he began a tenure-track associate professorship at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and was promoted to full researcher in 2024.

Design, regulation, and functionalization of self-assembled DNA crystals

 

Jianqin Lu obtained his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy. He currently is a John A. and Frances P. Ware Endowed Associate Professor and the Director for the Pharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics Track at the University of Arizona R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy. His research leverages sphingomyelin-derivatization approach to construct safe and effective nanotherapeutics for improved cancer, heart and neurodegenerative diseases therapy. He has received many awards, including the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy Pharmaceutics Research Award, the Biomaterials Science Emerging Investigator recognition, and the UArizona Cancer Center Translational Science Award. He is a chartered member of the NIH Drug and Biologic Therapeutic Delivery Study Section and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Drug Targeting.

Advances in nanotechnology-enabled adjuvants for peptide-based cancer vaccines

 

Li-Bo Mao obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2016. Currently, he serves as a professor at the Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale. His research focuses on biomimetic structural materials and biomimetic mineralization. His work has been published in top academic journals such as Science, J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem., Adv. Mater., Nano Res., Matter, and Adv. Funct. Mater.

Water-bearable nacre-inspired composite via matrix-induced rapid mineralization as potential compact bone repair material

 

Masaki Saruyama is an Associate Professor at the Institute for Chemical Research (ICR), Kyoto University. He received his Ph.D. in Science from the University of Tsukuba in 2011. From 2011 to 2015, he worked at Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. He joined ICR as a program-specific Assistant Professor in 2015 and was appointed to his current position in 2024. His research interests focus on the development of chemical synthesis methods for novel inorganic nanoparticles with precisely controlled size, shape, and composition, as well as on their application to photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, the elucidation of novel optical properties, the development of new methods for crystal phase control, and the exploration of three-dimensional superlattices through self-assembly toward the emergence of macroscopic functions.

One-step preparation of three-dimensional superlattices during nanoparticle synthesis

 

Guangcun Shan received his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Physics in 2013 from City University of Hong Kong. Afterwards he worked as a postdoctoral scientist at Max-Planck Institute in Germany and also at the University of Hong Kong. In 2016, he got promoted to be full professor at Beihang University. And he has been a visiting professor at Saarland University, Germany from 2016 to 2019 and in 2024. In 2018, he received Hong Kong K.C. Wong Foundation sponsorship, and was awarded with the Outstanding Young Scientist Awards by the Chinese Materials Research Society (C-MRS) in recognition of outstanding achievement and potential in the fields of glassy alloys. In recent years, he has also received many prizes and honours, including National Powerful Young Scientist nomination Award 2021; 2022 China Industry-University-Research Cooperation Innovation Award and nomination of 2022 APEC Science Prize as China representative nomination; IAAM Scientist Medal (2023); Technology Invention Award of the Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 2023. His work was awarded the 3rd place prize as a supervisor for breaking the wall of radionuclide adsorption in FALLING WALLS Lab Beijing and the TOP10 award in the Green and Low-carbon Growth category of the Beijing Zhongguancun International Advanced Frontier S&T Competition. His research interest is focused on 2D materials for flexible electronics and environmental remediation, smart sensors, AI for Science (AI4S) and robotics. Prof. Shan has authored over 120 refereed papers in prestigious journals such as Adv. Mater., Prog. Mater Sci., npj Comput. Mater., IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas., Mater. Today Phys., and Appl. Mater. Today. He is a council member of the Beijing Interdisciplinary Science Society and the Vice Chair of the Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Innovation League of National Universities.

Facile strategy for screening and fabricating metal-organic framework-based sensors for highly sensitive detection of iodine gas

 

Ho Cheung Shum is Vice-President (Research) of City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK). He also serves as the Chair Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering in the Department of Chemistry, the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering of CityUHK. Professor Shum received his Ph.D. and S.M. degrees in Applied Physics from Harvard University and B.S.E. degree (summa cum laude) in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University. His research interests include aqueous two-phase systems, emulsions, biomicrofluidics, biomedical engineering, and soft matter. Professor Shum is highly recognized for his pioneering contributions, receiving: the 15th Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Prize by Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE, 2024); RGC Senior Research Fellow Scheme (SRFS, 2024); Croucher Senior Research Fellowship (2020). He was also selected as Young Fellow of Hong Kong Academy of Engineering (2024); Fellows of the International Association of Advanced Materials (FIAAM, 2023), Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (FHKIE, 2023), Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC, 2017). Professor Shum is also a non-official member of the Committee on Innovation, Technology and Industry Development in the Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau of the HKSAR Government, and a member of the Curriculum Development Council Standing Committee on STEAM Education, Education Bureau of the HKSAR Government.

Micro/nanomotors from single modal to multimodal propulsion

 

Wen Sun received his Ph.D. degree in 2017 from the Max-Planck-Institute for Polymer Research (Germany). He joined the Dalian University of Technology as an associate professor in 2018, where he became a full professor in 2020. His research focuses on developing functional dyes for biomedical applications including bioimaging, fluorescence diagnosis, and phototherapy. Until recently, he has authored more than 70 papers in international journals with a H-index of 57. He served as an associate editor of Frontiers in Chemistry from 2021.

Uniformed mesoporous silica with unique chiral architecture for enhanced endocytosis and fluorescence imaging

 

Ye Tian, from Nanjing University, is dedicated to exploring programmable and controllable assembly of nanomaterials based on DNA nanotechnology. His focus includes superstructures engineering, fabrication of functional artificial materials, and biological diagnosis and treatment.

Programmable bottom-up self-assembly of nanomaterials at the nanoscale and microscale

 

Peng-peng Wang is a full professor at Xi’an Jiaotong University. He received his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Chemistry at Tsinghua University in 2014 and subsequently conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Maryland. In 2019, he joined the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Xi’an Jiaotong University. His research interests focus on the controlled synthesis and self-assembly of novel nanomaterials, particularly chiral inorganic nanomaterials, and their applications in renewable energy conversion, optoelectronics, and biological diagnosis and therapy. He has published more than 40 peer-reviewed scientific papers in leading journals, including Nat. Commun., Adv. Mater., J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., Nano Lett. and ACS Nano.

Multi-component nanocrystal supraparticles: Colloidal self-assembly and application

 

Dayong Yang is a professor at Fudan University. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology of China in 2002 and 2005, respectively. In 2008, he received his Ph.D. degree from the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He did postdoctoral training at Cornell University in the USA and Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen in the Netherlands. The themes of his research include DNA materials, chemical biology, and synthetic biology.

DNA nanostructures-based delivery system for cancer immunotherapy

 

Ming Yang is a Professor at the State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, Jilin University. He received his B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Chemistry from Jilin University and completed postdoctoral research at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His research focuses on biomimetic structural and functional materials, with notable contributions to self-healing coatings, aramid nanofiber-based composites, and nanomaterial self-assembly. His work has been featured in Nat. Rev. Mater., Nat. Chem., and other leading journals.

Nacre-like heterogeneous glass nanocomposites from interfacial assembly

 

Xianzhu Yang received his B.S. degree from Hefei University of Technology in 2006 and obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2011. After completing his doctoral studies, he pursued postdoctoral research at the same institution. From 2013 to 2017, he served as a professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Biomedical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology. Since 2017, he has been affiliated with the School of Biomedical Science and Engineering at South China University of Technology. His primary research interests focus on nanomedicine and the development of innovative drug delivery systems.

Magnetically actuated aggregation of nanoparticles via host–guest interaction for extracellular targeted drug delivery and cancer immunotherapy

 

Xingchen Ye is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Indiana University. He earned his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2006 and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania in 2012 under the mentorship of Professor Christopher Murray. He then completed postdoctoral training at the University of California, Berkeley, working with Prof. Paul Alivisatos. His research group specializes in the precision synthesis of colloidal nanomaterials and their hierarchical superstructures for energy-related applications. His team also employs advanced in situ electron microscopy techniques to study structural transformations and dynamic processes in materials.

Electron microscopy in nanoparticle self-assembly research

 

Taotao Zhuang is a full professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Science and Technology of China, where he joined in Apr 2020. His group is now challenging to synthesize novel chiral functional micro/nano materials, understand the mechanism of structure–property, and realize the practical optical-applications including information interaction, 3D displays, and bio-sensing using homemade materials.

Polymerization-with-assembly enables homogeneous circularly polarized luminescence structures