Faculty - Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering

Yong Wang Assistant Professor Ph.D., Duke University Email: yongwang@engr.uconn.edu Web: http://www.engr.uconn.edu/~yongwang

Research Interest: Nanomedicines for Cancer Therapy

The convergence of biomedical science and nanotechnology has led to the creation of a variety of nanodevices. Those developed for therapy or diagnosis are also referred to as nanomedicines. In comparison to conventional drugs, nanomedicines are presumably more potent in targeting tumor tissues and less toxic in normal ones. However, the in vivo potency of nanomedicines for cancer therapy was significantly limited by physiological delivery barriers. Our interest is to develop proper nanomedicines that can bypass the barriers and recognize tumor tissues with high delivery efficiency and specificity.

Research Interest: Nanomedicines for Diagnosis

The development of imaging agents with high-sensitivity, high-specificity and low-toxicity is of considerable significance to improve diagnosis and therapy in the clinic. Despite much success in the development of probes for ex vivo imaging test, the development of probes for in vivo non-invasive diagnosis is far from optimal. Our interest is to take advantage of the ideas of designing therapeutic nanomedicines to develop diagnostic agents for in vivo bioimaging.

Research Interest: Nanomaterials for Controlling Cell Behaviors

A key to achieve the success of tissue engineering or biomaterial implantation is to functionalize materials to obtain specific cell-material interactions. Our interest is to develop nanomaterials that can specifically and actively communicate with the living cells or tissues, and resultantly regulate cell behaviors.