Faculty: Biography
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Yan Geng, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Chemistry
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| Biosketch | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ph.D. Physical Organic Chemistry | Rutgers University | New Jersey | 2003 |
| B.S. Applied Chemistry | Univ. of Science & Tech. | P.R. China | 1998 |
- Post-doctoral Experience
- Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, 2003-2006
- Honors and Awards
- Research Interests
- Research interests focus on macromolecular self-assemblies per se and their interactions with biology, with an eye towards biomedical applications. Molecular (surfactants, lipids, polymers, biopolymers) self-assemblies in general are fascinating systems, in a sense that they not only raise fundamental questions on nano-/micro- scale structure formation, thermodynamics & dynamics of the association & dissociation processes, but also are functional materials for various traditional and advanced applications. In my group, by exploiting polymerization techniques as synthetic tools, we seek to develop macromolecules (polymers, dendrimers, polymer-peptide hybrids) that are able to self-assemble into sophisticated bio-inspired structures. A variety of techniques, e.g. Fluorecent Microscope, cryo-Transmission Electron Microscope, Micropipette, Light Scattering, AFM, will be used to characterize the self-assembly structures and pathways. By manipulating the chemistry, morphology and mechanical properties, macromolecular assemblies can serve as model biological structures (e.g. artificial virus, extracellular matrix), and by studying how they interact with cells (primarily cancer cells and stem cells), we aim to explore macromolecular assemblies for gene delivery and stem cell therapy, and perhaps also gain insights into fundamental cellular processes: endocytosis, signal transduction, transcription and differentiation.
- Representative Publications
- “Synthesis and Characterization of Nanocrystalline Bi2Se3 By Solvothermal Method”, Wenzhong Wang, Yan Geng, Yitai Qian, Yi Xie and Xianming Liu, Mater. Res. Bull. 1999, 34(1), 131-134
“A Convenient, Low Temperature Route to Nanocrystalline SnSe” Wenzhong Wang, Yan Geng, Yitai Qian, Cheng Wang and Xianming Liu, Mater. Res. Bull. 1999, 34(3), 403-406
“A Novel Room Temperature Method to Nanocrystalline Ag2Se”, Wenzhong Wang, Yan Geng, Yitai Qian, Mingrong Ji and Yi Xie, Mater. Res. Bull. 1999, 34(6), 877-882
“A Novel Pathway To PbSe Nanowires At Room Temperature”, W.H. Wang, Yan Geng, Y. Qian, Advanced Mater. 1998,10(17), 1479-1481
“Preparation And Characterization Of Nanocrystalline Cu2-xSe By A Novel Solvothermal Pathway” Wenzhong Wang, Ping Yan, Fuyu liu, Yan Geng and Yitai Qian, J. Mater. Chem. 1998,11, 2321-2322