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9, 6932

Contributors to the Emerging Investigators2021 issue

Our 2021 Emerging Investigators themed issues gather together some of the best research being

conducted by scientists in the early stages of their independent careers. Each contributor was

recommended as they are carrying out work with the potential to influence future directions in materials

chemistry. Congratulations to all of the researchers featured; we hope you enjoy reading this issue.

Juan M. Artes Vivancos is an assistantprofessor in the Department of Chemistryat the University of Massachusetts Lowell.After obtaining a PhD from the Universityof Barcelona working in single-moleculebiophysics, he was a postdoctoralassociate in the ECE Department of theUniversity of California, Davis, develop-ing new electrical methods for detectingoligonucleotides. He was awarded anindividual Marie Skłodowska–Curie anda Human Frontiers postdoctoral fellow-ship to learn physicochemical opticaltechniques and nonlinear ultrafastspectroscopies to study biological pro-cesses. His research interests range fromsingle-molecule biophysics and electricalnanobiosensors to developing new micro-scopy and spectroscopy techniques thatprovide high spatiotemporal resolution.When he is not having fun in the lab,

he also enjoys reading sci-fi, playingguitar and capoeira.

His contribution to the 2021 Journalof Materials Chemistry B Emerging Inves-tigators collection can be read at DOI: 10.1039/D1TB01141C

Anna Blocki, PhD, joined the ChineseUniversity of Hong Kong (CUHK) inFebruary 2018 as an Assistant Professorat the Institute for Tissue Engineeringand Regenerative Medicine (iTERM) andthe School of Biomedical Sciences (SBS).Her current work focuses on developinginnovative approaches to modulate diseasedmicroenvironments and guide healing andregenerative processes. Prof. Blocki receivedher PhD from the National University ofSingapore (NUS) in 2013. Following that,she carried out her first postdoctoralappointment at the Agency for Science Tech-nology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore.

In 2015, Prof. Blocki was able to secure acompetitive postdoctoral fellowship fromthe Charite Universitatsklinikum Berlin,where she worked before joining CUHK.

Her contribution to the 2021 Journalof Materials Chemistry B Emerging Inves-tigators collection can be read at DOI: 10.1039/D1TB00268F

Arun Richard Chandrasekaran is aresearch scientist at the RNA Instituteof the University at Albany, State Univer-sity of New York (SUNY) at Albany. Hereceived his BSc in Zoology from theAmerican College (Madurai, India), hisMTech in Nanoscience from the Univer-sity of Madras (Chennai, India) anda PhD in Chemistry from New YorkUniversity, where he worked with Prof.Nadrian Seeman on self-assembled DNAnanostructures. His current researchfocuses on creating functional DNA

DOI: 10.1039/d1tb90133h

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devices for applications in biosensing,drug delivery and molecular computation.He has a keen interest in science commu-nication, has written for the magazine TheScientist and runs the blog Stranded.

His contribution to the 2021 Journal ofMaterials Chemistry B Emerging Investi-gators collection can be read at DOI: 10.1039/D1TB00300C

Kelong Fan received his PhD degree incell biology from the Institute of Bio-physics, Chinese Academy of Sciencesin 2014. After this, he stayed to furtherpursue 3 years of postdoctoral trainingand 2 years of associate professor workexperience before attaining a full professorposition in 2019. He is interested in explor-ing the novel functions and applications ofnanozymes in biomedicine, with his toppriorities being the design of functionalnanozymes by learning from nature andto develop novel strategies for disease ther-anostics. He now serves as an AssociateEditor of Exploration and a Guest Editor ofFrontiers in Chemistry.

His contribution to the 2021 Journalof Materials Chemistry B Emerging Inves-tigators collection can be read at DOI:10.1039/D1TB00720C

Jing Feng received her PhD in inorganicchemistry from the Changchun Institute ofApplied Chemistry (CIAC), Chinese Acad-emy of Sciences (CAS) in 2009. Currently,she is working as a professor in Prof.Hongjie Zhang’s group at CIAC, CAS. Herresearch interests focus on the designand synthesis of rare earth luminescentmaterials and nanocomposites for sensing,detection and biomedical applications.

Her contribution to the 2021 Journalof Materials Chemistry B Emerging Inves-tigators collection can be read at DOI: 10.1039/D1TB00337B

Prof. Lingyan Feng received her PhDdegree in Chemistry from the ChangchunInstitute of Applied Chemistry, ChineseAcademy of Sciences, China. Then, shejoined ICS-8 as Alexander von HumboldtResearch Fellow at ForschungszentrumJulich, Germany. She is now a full Professorof Special Appointment (Eastern Scholar) atthe Materials Genome Institute, Shanghai

University. Her current scientific interest isfocused on bio-functional materials andthe self-assembly of biomolecules, nucleicacid molecular recognition and biosensordesign using smart materials.

Her contribution to the 2021 Journalof Materials Chemistry B Emerging Inves-tigators collection can be read at DOI: 10.1039/D1TB00683E

Catherine Fromen is an AssistantProfessor in the Department of Chemicaland Biomolecular Engineering at theUniversity of Delaware. Originally aMassachusetts native, she received herBS and PhD in Chemical Engineeringfrom the University of Rochester andNorth Carolina State University, respectively,and performed postdoctoral studies at theUniversity of Michigan. She joined Univ.Delaware in 2017, where her research groupfocuses on applying biomaterials andengineering principles to make improve-ments in inhalable medicines to bettertreat patients with pulmonary conditions.She loves working with students, travelling,scuba diving and going on hikes with herfiance and pandemic puppy, Beaker.

Her contribution to the 2021 Journalof Materials Chemistry B Emerging Inves-tigators collection can be read at DOI: 10.1039/D1TB00982F

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Dr Donald Richieri Griffin started as anAssistant Professor in the Departments ofBiomedical Engineering and ChemicalEngineering at the University of Virginiain 2017. He received a PhD degree inBiomedical Engineering from UC LosAngeles in 2011 under the mentorship ofProf. Andrea Kasko, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship under Prof. TatianaSegura. Dr Griffin’s research investigatesmicroporous annealed particle (MAP)scaffolds as a translational platform forin situ tissue generation and regeneration.In addition to his academic career, Dr Grif-fin co-founded a company in 2014, TempoTherapeutics, which is focused on the com-mercialization of the MAP technology.

His contribution to the 2021 Journalof Materials Chemistry B Emerging Inves-tigators collection can be read at DOI:10.1039/D1TB00715G

Dr Jinshan Guo is a full Professor inthe School of Basic Medical Sciences,Southern Medical University. He

obtained his bachelor’s degree from theDepartment of Materials Science andTechnology from Shandong Universityin 2005 and his doctoral degree in Poly-mer Chemistry and Physics from theChangchun Institute of Applied Chemis-try (CIAC), Chinese Academy of Science(CAS) in 2011. After graduating, he wentto the University of Texas at Arlington,then Pennsylvania State University andHarvard University in USA for post-doctoral research. Dr Guo has alsoworked at an American medical devicestartup company as a Senior ResearchScientist. Dr Guo has contributed to twoFDA approved products: the ElaSkin liquidbandage and citrate-based CITRELOCKtendon interference screw. Dr Guo’sresearch focuses on methodologies fordeveloping biodegradable polymers andbiomaterials and their application inregenerative medicine as tissue adhesivesand orthopedic biomaterials.

His contribution to the 2021 Journalof Materials Chemistry B Emerging Inves-tigators collection can be read at DOI:10.1039/D1TB00847A

Ximin He is an assistant professor ofMaterials Science and Engineering at theUniversity of California, Los Angeles(UCLA). Dr He was a postdoctoral fellow atthe Wyss Institute of Bioinspired Engineer-ing and the School of Engineering andApplied Science at Harvard University. Shereceived her PhD in Chemistry from theUniversity of Cambridge. Dr He’s researchfocuses on bioinspired soft materials andtheir applications in biomedicine, energy,the environment and robotics. She is the

recipient of the National Science Founda-tion CAREER award, the Air Force Office ofScientific Research Young Investigator Pro-gram award, the CIFAR Global Scholar pro-gram, the International Society of BionicEngineering Outstanding Youth Award, theSociety of Engineering Science Young Inves-tigator Medal, the 3M Non-tenured FacultyAward, the Hellman Fellows Award, etc. Herresearch on bioinspired tough hydrogels,phototropic, phototaxic, homeostatic andanti-icing materials has garnered a numberof regional and international awards andhas been featured in >100 internationalnews outlets.

Her contribution to the 2021 Journalof Materials Chemistry B Emerging Inves-tigators collection can be read at DOI: 10.1039/D1TB00739D

Dr Xinling Liu obtained his PhDdegree in Physical Chemistry from theShanghai Institute of Ceramics, ChineseAcademy of Sciences (SICCAS) in 2013.After postdoctoral research at ShanghaiUniversity and Kanagawa University, hejoined the College of Chemistry andMaterials Science at Shanghai NormalUniversity in 2018 and became an associateprofessor. His current research is focusedon the design of chiral inorganic nano-materials and their chiroptical propertiesin spectroscopic analysis (Raman,circular dichroism and circularly polarizedluminescence).

His contribution to the 2021 Journal ofMaterials Chemistry B Emerging Investi-gators collection can be read at DOI: 10.1039/D1TB00983D

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Ping’an Ma was born in Jilin, China,in 1982. He received his BS degree inBiology in 2005 from Northeast NormalUniversity and his PhD degree in Bio-chemistry in 2010 from NortheastNormal University. After graduation, hebecame an Assistant Professor in Prof.Jun Lin’s group and was promoted toProfessor in 2020. His research focuseson the synthesis and application ofmultifunctional inorganic nanoparticlesfor bioapplication, particularly the designand mechanism of platinum-based anti-cancer drugs.

His contribution to the 2021 Journal ofMaterials Chemistry B Emerging Investi-gators collection can be read at DOI: 10.1039/D1TB01001H

Dr Amirali Popat is an Associate Pro-fessor and Director of Research at theSchool of Pharmacy of the Universityof Queensland. He obtained his PhD inNanomedicine from the Australian Institutefor Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, the

University of Queensland, Australia in 2012.His group’s research focuses on the devel-opment of stimuli responsive nanomaterialsto overcome multiple biological barriers forprecision medicine, in particular the devel-opment of smart oral drug delivery systemsfor the treatment of IBD, diabetes andcancer. Currently, (2020–2021) he is servingas the president of the Australian ControlledRelease Society (AusCRS) and as anacademic board member of the CRSfocus group on nanoscale delivery.

His contribution to the 2021 Journal ofMaterials Chemistry B Emerging Investi-gators collection can be read at DOI: 10.1039/D1TB01430G

Yun Qian received his MD degreefrom Shanghai Jiao Tong University in2019. He is member of the Royal Societyof Chemistry and the Chinese Society forBiomaterials, community board memberof Materials Horizons, editor for Frontiersin Pharmacology, Advanced MaterialsProceedings and Video Proceedings ofAdvanced Materials, and youth editorialboard member of Advanced Fiber Materialsand the Chinese Journal of BiomedicalEngineering. He is presiding over the YouthTalent Promotion Project of the ChinaAssociation for Science and Technology,National Natural Science Foundation ofChina, and the Shanghai Sailing Program.He was awarded Second Prize at theNational Science and Technology Awards(2020). His research focuses on soft tissueinjury and regeneration, neural nano-medicine, neural pharmacology and mole-cular neuroscience.

His contribution to the 2021 Journalof Materials Chemistry B Emerging

Investigators collection can be read atDOI: 10.1039/D1TB00686J

Yuan Ping obtained his PhD degreefrom the National University of Singapore.He pursued his postdoctoral training at theSingapore Institute of Materials Researchand Engineering, University of Melbourne,and Nanyang Technological University.

He became a principal investigator atthe College of Pharmaceutical Sciences,Zhejiang University, where he establishedhis own research group in 2017 and waspromoted to tenured associated professor in2020. His primary research interests focuson biomaterials for the controlled delivery ofbiomacromolecules for therapeutic genomeediting. As a corresponding author, he haspublished more than 30 papers in presti-gious journals including PNAS, ScienceAdvances, Advanced Materials etc.

His contribution to the 2021 Journal ofMaterials Chemistry B Emerging Investi-gators collection can be read at DOI: 10.1039/D1TB00742D

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Bernhard V. K. J. Schmidt completedhis PhD in 2013 with Prof. Barner-Kowollikat the Karlsruhe Institute of Technologyand a Postdoc with Prof. Hawker at theUniversity of California, Santa Barbara.Afterwards, he joined the department ofProf. Antonietti at the Max Planck Instituteof Colloids and Interfaces as a GroupLeader and finished his Habilitation in2020. Since 2019, he has been a Lecturerin Synthetic Polymer Chemistry at the Uni-versity of Glasgow. His research focusseson block copolymer self-assembly, metal–organic framework/polymer hybrids andcarbon nitride/polymer hybrid materials.

His contribution to the 2021 Journal ofMaterials Chemistry B Emerging Investi-gators collection can be read at DOI: 10.1039/D1TB00628B

Dr Wen Shi received his BS degree inPharmacy from Huazhong Universityof Science and Technology in 2009 andobtained his PhD in Pharmaceutical

Sciences from the University of NebraskaMedical Center (UNMC) in 2015. Hisdoctoral research was focused on thedevelopment of biodegradable polymer–peptide conjugates for cancer imaging anddrug delivery. He worked for over two yearsas a Senior Scientist at Wuxi Biologics andthen joined the Duan Lab in January 2018as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. He isnow an instructor at UNMC and hisresearch interests are in the developmentof hydrogel-based materials for 3D culture,regenerative medicine, disease modelingand drug delivery.

His contribution to the 2021 Journal ofMaterials Chemistry B Emerging Investi-gators collection can be read at DOI: 10.1039/D1TB00156F

Yujun Song is currently a professor atthe College of Engineering and AppliedSciences, Nanjing University. He receivedhis BS from Wuhan University in 2005and his PhD from the Changchun Insti-tute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Acad-emy of Sciences (CAS) in 2011. He thenworked as a postdoctoral researcher atHouston Methodist Hospital, Weill Cor-nell Medical College (USA) from 2011 to2015. In early 2016, he joined NanjingUniversity. His current research isfocused on biofunctional materials andmicrofluidics for translational medicine.

His contribution to the 2021 Journal ofMaterials Chemistry B Emerging Investi-gators collection can be read at DOI: 10.1039/D1TB00671A

Dr Chor Yong Tay is currently anAssistant Professor in the School of Mate-rials Science and Engineering (MSE) andthe School of Biological Sciences (SBS) atNanyang Technological University (NTU),Singapore. He received his PhD from MSE atNTU. He was a Lee Kwan Yew PostdoctoralFellow in the Department of Chemical andBiomolecular Engineering at the NationalUniversity of Singapore from 2012–2015.His research integrates materials chemistry,engineering and biological principles towardthe design of advanced functional biomater-ials for therapeutics, disease modelling andregenerative medicine, and the basic under-standing of cell–material interactions, suchas redox biology and mechanobiology.

His contribution to the 2021 Journal ofMaterials Chemistry B Emerging Investi-gators collection can be read at DOI: 10.1039/D1TB00458A

Fan Wang obtained her bachelor’sdegree from Lanzhou University in 2012and then she received her PhD degree in

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inorganic chemistry from the Universityof the Chinese Academy of Sciences inChina in 2017. From 2017 to 2019, sheworked as a research assistant professorat the Changchun Institute of AppliedChemistry. In 2020, she was promoted toresearch associate professor and now she isfocusing on the synthesis and biomedicalapplications of bio-inorganic compositematerials.

Her contribution to the 2021 Journalof Materials Chemistry B Emerging Inves-tigators collection can be read at DOI: 10.1039/D1TB00725D

Yinghui Wang received her BSc degreein Chemistry from Jilin Normal Universityin 2006 and her PhD degree in condensedmatter physics from the Changchun Insti-tute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics,Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2011. Inthe same year, she was granted the CASPresidential Scholarship Award. Then, sheworked as a postdoctoral researcher at theUniversity of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Shesubsequently joined the group of Prof.Hongjie Zhang at the Changchun Instituteof Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy ofSciences (CAS). She is working as an associ-ate professor at the Changchun Institute ofApplied Chemistry, CAS. Her researchinterests focus on the design and synthesisof inorganic functional materials and theirbioapplications.

Her contribution to the 2021 Journalof Materials Chemistry B Emerging Inves-tigators collection can be read at DOI: 10.1039/D1TB00694K

Yue (Jessica) Wang received her BSin Chemistry and PhD in InorganicChemistry in 2008 and 2014, respectively.She was a member of the research staff atFibron Technologies, Inc. in the years2008–2009. She carried out postdoctoralresearch at Stanford University between2014–2017. Dr Wang is currently anAssistant Professor of Materials Scienceand Engineering at the University ofCalifornia, Merced. She is the recipientof the NSF-CAREER and Beckman YoungInvestigator awards. Her research focuseson bio-inspired, multi-functional andmechanically adaptive soft materials.

Her contribution to the 2021 Journalof Materials Chemistry B Emerging Inves-tigators collection can be read at DOI: 10.1039/D1TB00877C

Jiangjiexing Wu is a Research AssociateProfessor in the College of Engineeringand Applied Sciences at Nanjing Univer-sity. She received her BS degree from

Tianjin University in 2009. In the sameyear, she joined Prof. Jinli Zhang and WeiLi’s group at Tianjin University andreceived her PhD degree in 2014. During2011–2013, she studied in Prof. Yi Lu’sgroup at the University of Illinois atUrbana-Champaign as a joint PhD student.She then joined Prof. Hui Wei’s group as apostdoctoral fellow from 2015–2018 andnow is a research associate professor. Herresearch interests are focused on therational design and synthesis of functionalnanomaterials (such as nanozymes) andtheir biomedical applications.

Her contribution to the 2021 Journalof Materials Chemistry B Emerging Inves-tigators collection can be read at DOI: 10.1039/D1TB00964H

Yi-Cheun Yeh is an Assistant Professorin the Institute of Polymer Science andEngineering at National Taiwan University.She received her BS and MS in Chemistryfrom National Taiwan Normal University.She pursued her PhD in Chemistry at theUniversity of Massachusetts at Amherstunder the guidance of Prof. VincentRotello. Upon graduation, she moved toPhiladelphia to perform her postdoctoralstudies in the polymeric biomaterialslaboratory of Prof. Jason Burdick. Presently,her laboratory focuses on engineering theinterface between materials and biologyand spans the areas of nanoparticles, bio-materials and biofabrication.

Her contribution to the 2021 Journalof Materials Chemistry B Emerging Inves-tigators collection can be read at DOI: 10.1039/D1TB00980J

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Dr Chao Zhao is an Assistant Profes-sor in the Department of Chemical andBiological Engineering at the Universityof Alabama. He received his PhD degreein Chemical and Biomolecular Engineer-ing from the University of Akron in 2013.

He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Uni-versity of Michigan from 2013–2016 andat Harvard Medical School from 2016–2018. He joined the University of Ala-bama as an Assistant Professor in July2018. His research focuses on polymerdrug delivery systems, in particular forsmall hydrophilic molecules, and poly-mer scaffolds for tissue engineering. Hiswork has been broadcasted in Boston 25News and highlighted in 30+ nationaland international news agencies. At thisearly stage of his faculty career, he hasbeen awarded the NIH ResearchEnhancement Award, the University ofAlabama RGC Level 1 Award, an AlabamaTransportation Institute grant and a U.S.Department of Education GAANN grant.

His contribution to the 2021 Journal ofMaterials Chemistry B Emerging Investi-gators collection can be read at DOI: 10.1039/D1TB00730K

Chunlei Zhu received his BS from JilinUniversity in 2008 and his PhD from theInstitute of Chemistry, Chinese Academyof Sciences in 2013 with Prof. Shu Wang.He then conducted his postdoctoralresearch with Prof. Younan Xia at theGeorgia Institute of Technology from2014 to 2017 and Prof. Ben Zhong Tangat the Hong Kong University of Scienceand Technology from 2017 to 2018. Hestarted his independent academic careerin the College of Chemistry at NankaiUniversity in 2018. His current researchinterests include the design and fabricationof functional organic and/or polymericmaterials for biomedical applications.

His contribution to the 2021 Journalof Materials Chemistry B Emerging Inves-tigators collection can be read at DOI:10.1039/D1TB00843A

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