Founding Director

BMI Center for Biomass Materials and Nanointerfaces

Professor of Biomass Science and Engineering

Professor Guo has made groundbreaking contributions to the field of polyphenol-based materials science and engineering. His research has advanced the fundamental understanding of polyphenol chemistry and has led to the development of new materials as well as technologies for biotechnology, biomedicine, environmental science, cell biology, among others.

Member of Chinese Academy of Engineering

BMI Center Advisor, Co-Supervisor

Professor Shi is director of the National Engineering Laboratory for Clean Technology of Leather Manufacture at Sichuan University and also serves as an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He has authored or co-authored more than 500 papers and is active in leather organizations, a Past President of the IULTCS, a well-known contributor at international technical meetings and Congresses, and a sought after keynote speaker. He received IULTCS Merit Award in 2015.

Member of National Academic Degree Committee

BMI Center Advisor, Co-Supervisor

Professor Liao obtained his Ph.D. degree in the Department of Leather Engineering at Sichuan University. His doctoral thesis was selected as one of the 100 outstanding doctoral thesis in 2006 by the Ministry of Education China. He has led a number of national research projects such as the National 973 (previous period), National 863, and the National Natural Science Foundation. The main research topics of Professor Liao is skin collagen chemistry and the engineering of collagen-derived functional materials.

BMI Honorary Fellow
The University of Tokyo, Japan

Originally from the "Sunshine State" of the United States, Dr. Richardson has lived in Australia for the past 7 years first studying PhD in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Melbourne followed by employment at CSIRO and the University of Melbourne. Dr. Richardson has extensive experience in thin-film assembly methods, polymer and nanoparticle processing techniques, drug delivery, nano-biohybrid systems, and metal-organic frameworks.

BMI Honorary Fellow

Aalto University, Finland

Dr. Tardy is a Research Fellow at Aalto University in Finland. His expertise includes colloidal science, polymer science, cellulose chemistry and engineering. This wide range of background helps the creation of a frame of multidisciplinary research in BMI. 

Associate Professor

Ph.D., University of Hamburg, Germany

Platform Leader of Polymer Chemistry

Stimuli-responsive polymers have been widely investigated in drug release, biosensors, actuators and nanoreactors owing to their “smart” responsiveness to external stimuli, such as light, temperature, enzymes, pH, gases, etc. My research interests focus on the synthesis of amphiphilic copolymers applying in insulin delivery and gas sensing. Additionally, biomass-based actuators and sensors fabricated from hydrogels and nanofibers are included in my research projects.

Associate Professor (Research)

Ph.D., Sichuan University, China

Platform Leader of Materials Science

Skin collagen as structural protein has unique hierarchically fibrous structure and high chemical reactivity. My research focuses on exploiting its strong structural and chemical basis for developing novel collagen-based composite materials with special structure and new functionalities. Particularly, I am interested in applying these new functional materials in lithium storage, electromagnetic absorption, and thermal camouflage.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Ph.D., University of Bristol, UK

Platform Leader of Advanced Chemistry

Nanobiohybrid materials have emerged as an exciting system in material engineering and biological science. My research focuses on polyphenol-functionalized polymers for biohybrid materials, which include precise synthesis of polymers, polyphenol functionalization, and cellular behavior exploration. In addition, to construct novel functional biohybrid systems with inorganic materials are also included

Postdoctoral Fellow

Ph.D., Sichuan University, China

Platform Leader of Advanced Therapy

Organometallics or organometallics contained materials that illustrated high potential in different areas like pollutant disposal, energy storage, and drug development. The organic ligands play key roles in the functionalization of organometallics or organometallics materials. In my research, new organometallics or organometallic materials were prepared with special organic ligands, there physicochemical property and function were fully explored.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Ph.D., Sichuan University, China

Microfabrication for Biotechnology

My research focuses on target gene activation via CRISPR/Cas9-mediated trans-epigenetic modulation. The versatile and efficient CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene activation system holds great promise, both as a tool for in vivo biomedical research and as a targeted epigenetic approach for treating a wide range of human diseases.

Associate Professor
Ph.D., University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Catalytic Foundations and Frontiers

Catalyst affects reaction rate by changing activation energy of reactants, which earns it the indispensable status in more than 90% of the chemical production processes. My research focuses on developing high activity and highly selective catalysts for electrochemical sensor, electrocatalytic reduction reaction and advanced oxidation process. Particularly, I am interested in chemical bond activation by directional constructing catalyst with the multi-scale precision control method of phase structure (crystal form), surface chemistry (coordination, defect) and physical structure (pore structure).

Postdoctoral Fellow (Co-supervised)

Ph.D., Sichuan University, China

Natural Polyphenol-Constructured Bionanosystem

Traditional small-molecule chemotherapy drugs face many challenges in drug delivery, such as poor solubility and stability in water, rapid clearance in the body, and highly toxic and side effects. In my research, by using nanotechnology，drugs are prepared by combining with other items like inorganic, organic or polymer materials in a certain way, which brings hope to overcome these difficulties.

Postgraduate Student

Ph.D. Candidate

Affinity chromatography possesses enormous potential as a purification technique for biochemicals such as antibodies, enzymes and other proteins. However, hurdles of cost, reusability and purification capacity limit its industrial applications. In my research (ongoing), by utilizing collagens as chromatographic matrix and optimizing the ligands and processing, we aim to improve the binding capacity, lifetime and yield of affinity chromatography, which is crucial for industrial-scale applications.

Postgraduate Student

Ph.D. Candidate

A low calcination temperature was inclined to be more flexible in composite inorganic functional material synthesis. In my research, an in-situ carbon-introduction catalyst (F-C/TiO2) with well visible-light response was prepared by facile sol-gel method at a relatively low calcination temperature. A synergetic system, referred to as Fe&F-C/TiO2, was then obtained, which was supposed to combine the photocatalysis with the Fenton-like effect and to enhance the detoxication of persistent pollutants in water.

Postgraduate Student

Ph.D. Candidate

Antibacterial hydrogels are capable of self-healing face acute defects of low mechanical property, limited self-healing ability, potential cytotoxicity, and poor recyclability. In my research, the hydrogels based on fully physical crosslinking are prepared by using multiple dynamic non-covalent interactions, which open a new avenue to fabricate hydrogels with outstanding mechanical properties and multi-functionality synchronously.

Postgraduate Student

Ph.D. Candidate

Chinese wine is brewed by a fermentation process of natural inoculation, which involves a variety of microorganisms with different functions. My research mainly focuses on the microbial community succession and core functional microorganisms in the process of solid-state brewing. In addition, the trace components of strong-flavor wine are also studied, which include the unknown trace components, the change of trace components in the process of Chinese wine collection, and the rapid identification of strong-flavor baijiu of different brands.

Postgraduate Student

Ph.D. Candidate

On account of the sustainability, environmental-friendly, and biodegradability of natural biomass materials, biomass materials (such as starch, cellulose, polyphenol, and etc.) have been regarded as the most promising candidate to replace oil-based materials used in various fields. In my research, some functional materials derived from biomass materials via modification strategy or composite technology are utilized to be carriers of drugs, biosensors, and actuators. Such research opens up a new direction for the development of natural materials with outstanding properties and multifunctionality.

Postgraduate Student

Ph.D. Candidate

Naturally occurring biomacromolecules such as polysaccharides, proteins, and nucleic acids have attracted scientific interest due to their intrinsic biocompatibility and biodegradability. Covalently grafting exogenous motifs to biomacromolecules can induce designed functionality. However, the chemical and spatial structure may be altered by the modification, leading to a deleterious effect on their intrinsic function. Polyphenols possess affinities and potentials without affecting structures or morphologies. My research focuses on the interactions between polyphenols and biomacromolecules, to endow biomacromolecules with rationally designed functionalities without changes in properties.

Postgraduate Student

Ph.D. Candidate

Collagen and collagen-based materials illustrate excellently properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, and assembly-disassembly, which make it a unique and potential material in the fields of materials science, biomedical, and biosensors. My interest is introducing bioactive factors or polyphenols into collagen self-assembly systems to form collagen-functionalized complexes and explore their unique biomedical applications.

Research Assistant
Ph.D. Foundation Fellow

Light energy is a kind of renewable, green, and inexhaustible energy source. Rational utilization of light energy is of great significance in solving the energy crises and sustainable development. My previous research was on the study of the biomass-based photothermal materials and their properties. Polyphenols are widely existing biomass resources, with the intrinsic ability to absorb ultraviolet light and to coordinate with metal ions. They have great potentials to be developed as photothermal materials. My research focuses on the utilization of UV light with functionalized polyphenols.

Research Assistant

Ph.D. Foundation Fellow

BMI Administrative Coordinator

I mainly focus on the research of interfacial modification of advanced functional materials through the engineering of metal-phenolic networks (MPNs) in biological protection, environmental protection, and food safety, etc. I am currently interested in applying MPNs to solve some critical problems during the pandemic of COVID-19.

Research Assistant

Ph.D. Foundation Fellow

Functional nucleic acid (FNA) probes are always the focus of research in the field of biosensors due to their ultra-sensitive and specific recognition capabilities. my major research is focused on application of functional nucleic acid modified nanocomposites such as DNA-Ag-DNCs and FNA-MPN nanocomposites in biological applications of cells and living organisms or bioeletrochemical analysis.

Research Assistant

Ph.D. Foundation Fellow

Photothermal conversion typically involves the transfer of absorbed light into local heating. My research interests focus on application of functional biomass aerogels such as chitosan and photothermal conversion materials for sustainable solar-driven water purification. It is extended to power generation by coupling the streaming current and potential with evaporation-induced spontaneous flow of water in capillary channels. The biomass aerogels are also biocompatibility and high efficiency in photothermal therapy to kill cancer cells or tissues.

Postgraduate Student

Master Candidate (Research)

To explore and mimic natural situations with complex and comprehensive conditions, multi-stimuli responsive hydrogel and film actuators have become the trend for designing smart polymer matrix with controllable shape deformations and coloration.  In my research, biomass materials are used for preparing (1) the photo-masked films as anti-fake labels, and (2) hydrogels with inhomogeneous structures as the deformations controllable actuators.

Postgraduate Student

Master Candidate (Research)

The integration of functional materials and biological systems opens up a new way to control biological functions. As a kind of hybrid material with superior performance, metal phenolic networks (MPNs) have been widely used in biotechnology and biomedical fields due to its high biocompatibility, universal adhesion, and flexibility of in-situ assembly, such as MPNs coated single-cell encapsulation, MPNs-based therapy, etc. My research interests focus on ionic liquid-assisted under-skin therapy-in situ assembly of MPNs in the dermis and MPNs-coated reusable gene transcription method.

Postgraduate Student

Master Candidate (Research)

Metal-phenolic networks (MPNs) are able to form functional films on various substrates with broad application prospects in the fields of drug delivery and catalysis. My research focuses on the development of multifunctional surface for the biomedical field through MPNs. On the other hand, the characterization of MPNs with high-energy laser is also my concern. It will help us explore the mechanism of MPN film formation.

Postgraduate Student

Master Candidate (Research)

Metal-phenolic networks (MPNs) are hybrid materials prepared by the coordination of various metal ions to naturally-occurring polyphenols, which could be used as functional building blocks and assemble into a variety of structural materials. These class of materials have drawn great interest in biomedicine due to their high biocompatibility, such as drug delivery, bio-catalysis, and bio-imaging. My research focuses on the preparation of functional MPN-based nanomaterials to achieve advanced properties in diagnosis, therapy, and active targeting.

Postgraduate Student

Ph.D. Candidate

Commonly used materials in the field of hemoperfusion have poor biocompatibility, limited adsorption capacity, and cytotoxicity. In my research, natural material is used to fabricate highly selective and biocompatible adsorbent to remove toxin in the blood, which conquers the challenges faced in blood purification.

Postgraduate Student

Master Candidate (Research)

Metal ions and polyphenols can be conveniently and quickly self-assembled into Metal-Phenolic Networks (MPN). Its simple and green assembly process and the formation of functional membranes on surfaces make it prominent in biomimetics, materials science, drug delivery, and biomedical fields. My research direction is to combine Metal-Phenolic Networks with nutrient modifications for targeted transport, release and treatment, etc.

Undergraduate Student

Research Project Experience

Polymer actuators are based on stimulus-responsive polymers, combined with external environmental stimuli, to show "smart" behavior. The necessary design principle is to design the differential stress in the direction of the film thickness or the transverse dimension, thereby generating a bending moment to drive the polymer film to drive behavior. My research interest is to synthesize stimulus-responsive polymers through free radical polymerization and use electrospinning to construct 3D structural polymer membranes, in order to be applied in drug transport and cell capture.

Postgraduate Student

Master Candidate (Research)

The major criteria of stationary batteries for energy storage systems are a long cycle life, high rate capability, low cost, and high safety. Hence, an abundant, non-toxic, stable, and high-rate anode material for SIBs is urgently needed to ensure large-scale and long-term applications. Metallic Bi is a promising candidate for sodium-ion storage due to its efficient cost, toxic-free, and large lattice fringe along the c-axis (d(003) = 3.95 Å) for Na+ insertion. My research interest mainly focuses on the rational design of Bi-based anode materials for multifunctional electrochemical energy storage and conversion applications.

Undergraduate Student

Research Project Experience

Our main research work is to synthesize stimulus-responsive polymers by free radical polymerization and construct a dual-response nanofiber driver based on cross-linked thermal response and pH nanofibers combined with electrostatic nanotechnologies.

Postgraduate Student

Master Candidate (Research)

Food preservation has always been a vital issue to be solved urgently in the food industry. My research content is to explore the inhibiting of spoilage fungal biofilm in fermented food and its mechanism, try to combine it with biological materials to realize the high-value utilization of natural products. I am also very interested in the application of this technology in the field of low-salt fermentation of food.