• I was born in Nei Mongolia, China in 1978, and grew up in Liaoning Province, China. However, I should claim Tianjin as my second hometown after spending nine years there for my college and graduate studies. In July 2005, I finished my PhD program under the supervision of Prof. Yu Liu, and graduated from Nankai University. My PhD research focused on molecular recognition and self-assembly based on synthetic receptors, i.e., cyclodextrins and crown ethers, and its application in molecular pharmaceutics, which brought me into the great world of supramolecular chemistry and nanoscience.
  
• After my graduation, I got a Faculty Research Associate position in the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University. So, early August 2005, I came to the US to start my scientific career abroad. After a year of research on the synthesis and self-assembly of unnatural nucleic acids and evolutionary nucleic acid projects, I joined the research group of Prof. Fraser Stoddart at UCLA (the whole lab moved to Northwestern University on Dec 2007) as a postdoctoral scholar in August 2006 and work on developing biocompatible (supra)molecular nanovalves for foraging within cells and delivering drugs to them and nanoelectronic devices and NanoElectroMechanical Systems for sensor application and biomedical diagnostics. I am currently enjoying the sunny life in Southern California.

Postdoctoral Research

UCLA Period

• Design and synthesis of mesoporous silica nanoparticles modified with switchable organic components as gates
• Development of cyclodextrin and cucurbituril-based glass nanovalves for drug delivery and cancer treatment
• Synthesis, purification and characterization of rotaxanes
• Nanomechanical actuator driven electrochemically by artificial molecular muscles
• Active molecular plasmonics mediated by molecular switches
• Preparation and submission of funding grant application
• Preparation and reviewing of manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals
• Supervision of graduate and undergraduate students in Stoddart research group

ASU Period

• Chemical synthesis of Threose Nucleic Acids (TNA) and Glycerol Nucleic Acids (TNA) phorsphorimidites
• Automated synthesis of (un)natural nucleic acid (DNA, RNA, TNA, GNA) oligonucleotides and nucleic acid templates using DNA synthesizer, and their purification by chemical and biochemical methods
• Melting and thermodynamic studies of Watson-Crick duplex structures formed by unnatural nucleic acids
• Self-assembly of nanostructures using DNA and GNA as assembly elements
• DNA polymerase-mediated DNA, RNA and TNA synthesis on a GNA template
• Supervision of graduate students and undergraduate students
• Determine the fidelity of TNA enzyme by examining the rates of nucleotide misincorporation and primer extension from a mismatched base pair.
• Molecular recognition of TNA and GNA aptamers toward small molecule targets and proteins to reveal the potential application of these molecules in drug development.
• Develop an in vitro selection system for the evolution of these alternative nucleic acid systems.

PhD Research

• Molecular design and syntheses of macrocyclic crown ether derivatives, and their cation selectivities and amino acids binding behaviors
• Design and syntheses of (1) novel mono-modified cyclic oligosaccharides (cyclodextrins) with chiral/achiral tether; (2) 6,6’ and/or 2,2’ bridged bis-cyclodextrins with different aromatic/non- aromatic and chiral/achiral spacers; (3) cyclodextrin-crown ether conjugates
• Molecular/ion recognition, molecular recognition thermodynamics, and fluorescent sensor of synthetic receptors towards organic small molecules (aliphatic alcohols, fluorescent dyes), biological molecules (amino acids, oligopeptides, steroids), small molecule drugs (cinchona alkaloids) and metal ions
• The preparation of water-soluble cyclodextrin-modified gold nanoparticles and their assemblies with guest molecules such as fullerene and 1,10-Phenanthroline
• Synthesis of polypseudorotaxanes and polyrotaxanes based on artificial synthetic molecules
• Preparation and reviewing of manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals
• Preparation, submission and reviewing of funding grant applications
• Tutor for junior graduate and undergraduate students

Awards and Honors

• 2007 - Outstanding Poster Presentation Award, NSF CB[n] Molecular Container Workshop, Calix 2007, College Park, MD
• 2006-2008 - Postdoctoral Fellowship (US NSF project), UCLA
• 2005-2006 - Postdoctoral Fellowship, The Biodesign Institute at ASU
• 2004 - First Prize of Excellent Graduate Scholarship and Guanghua Scholarship - Nankai University and Guanghua Fund in Taiwan, China
• 2004 - Excellent All-Round Student Award - Nankai University
• 2002 - Second Prize of Excellent Graduate Scholarship (Donggang Scholarship) - DanKong Industry & Trade Group Co., Ltd.
• 2001 - Second Prize of Excellent Graduate Scholarship - Nankai University
• 2001-2005 - Five-Year National University Scholarship - Nankai University
• 2000 - Excellent Graduate Award - Nankai University
• 1999 - Basic-Subject Undergraduate Scholarship - Nankai University
• 1998 - Excellent All-Round Student Award - Nankai University
• 1998 - Excellent Student Cadre of Nankai University - Nankai University
• 1998 - First Prize of Excellent Graduate Scholarship - Nankai University
• 1997 - Excellent All-Round Student Award - Nankai University
• 1997 - Excellent Student Cadre of Nankai University - Nankai University
• 1997 - Second Prize of Excellent Graduate Scholarship - Nankai University
• 1996 - Basic-Subject Undergraduate Scholarship for Freshman- Nankai University

Work/Research Experience and Extra-Curriculum-Activities