Principal Investigator
Professor Junling Guo (郭俊凌)
Full Professor of Biomass Science and Engineering
National Excellent Young Professor
Founding Director of BMI Center
National Leading Entrepreneur Award of Chengdu
Editorial Board Member of Chinese Chemical Letters
Education and Experience
Prof. Guo received his Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at The University of Melbourne, Australia. He initialed the pioneering research on polyphenol-based engineering of particle and thin-film systems, including metal-phenolic network (MPN) and polyphenol-based modular assembly method.
Advisor: Prof. Frank Caruso (Fellows of the Royal Society, Fellow of Australian Academy of Science, Fellow of Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, Deputy Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano Science and Technology, CSIRO Eureka Prize for Leadership).
Prof. Guo conducted research and lecturing as Wyss Fellow in the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, United States. High-impact works have been focused on polyphenol-based nano-engineering of microbial (Solar yeast) and mammalian cells (Cellnex technology).
Advisors: Prof. Samir Mitragotri (Member of the National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Medicine, and National Academy of Inventors, Hiller Professor of Bioengineering and Hansjorg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering Core Faculty Member, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering). Prof. Neel Joshi (Associate Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Hansjorg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering Core Faculty Member)
Research Areas
Prof. Guo initiated a series of pioneering research on polyphenol-based multifunctional materials and interfacial self-assembly, encompassing more than 100 peer-reviewed publications in a range of high-impact journals, including Science, Nat. Nanotech., Nat. Commun., Sci. Adv., Energy Environ. Sci., Angewandte Chem. Int. Ed., Adv. Mater., etc (more information on the Publication page). Prof. Guo explored the use of polyphenols on particle self-assembly for the generation of superstructures and inorganic-biological hybrids. These parts of works have been published in Science and Nature Nanotech. as highlighted articles. In 2014, he reported the library of metal-phenolic networks (MPNs) materials, which represent the establishment of novel multifunctional materials based on polyphenols. This part of the work has been published in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. as the front cover and draw broad attention in the material field. Prof. Guo's works have been reported by more than 20 international scientific media, including F1000 (Exceptional), EurekAlert!, Harvard Gazette, ChemViews Magazine, Phy.org, IDI-Online, etc. Prof. Guo is also an entrepreneur who is the holder of numerous patents in the fields of biotechnology, environmental science, and healthcare, and founder of several companies.
Fundamental Studies:
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2014, 53, 5546
Metal-Phenolic Networks, MPNs
Nat. Nanotechnol., 2016, 11, 1105
Modular Assembly and Nanointerfaces
Science, 2018, 362, 813
Solar Yeast-based Biohybrid
Sci. Adv., 2021, 7, eabh348
Supramolecular Assembly of Natural Polyphenols
Applications:
Nat. Commun., 2022
Nanocoating for Probiotics, Armored Probiotics
Energy Environ. Sci., 2019, 12, 607
Membrane and Surface Functionalization
Adv. Mater., 2020, 2003492
Cell Engineering, Cellnex
Adv. Sci., 2019, 6, 1801688
Self-assembled Therapeutic Nanoparticles
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2019, 58, 9866
Membrane Protein Assembly
Reviews:
Chem. Soc. Rev., 2022
'Bio-derived Nanoparticles for Advanced Therapy'
Appl. Phys. Rev., 2022, 9, 021301
'Self-assembly of 1D Micelles'
ACS Biomater. Sci. Eng., 2019, 5, 557
'Polyphenol-based Biomaterials'
Trends Food Sci. Technol., 2021, 116, 940
'Microorganism in Fermented Foods'
WHAT WE DO
Our mission: use bio-building blocks to create materials
Polyphenols, these plant-derived natural products, were traditionally referred to as vegetable tannins, due to their original use in the industrial process of tanning to convert animal hide into leather. The possibility to exploring the unique physicochemical and biological properties of polyphenols can serve as an important source of inspiration in the search for new and improved materials. A library of functional metal-phenolic network (MPN) nanostructured films and capsules were reported which is based on the coordination between a phenolic ligand and a range of metal ions. Furthermore, the polyphenol-based particle functionalization was discovered by Prof. Guo to facilitate an interfacial molecular interaction-induced self-assembly process. This allowed for the generation of a highly versatile and effective methodology to prepare a large variety of superstructures assembled from a wide range of building blocks. This method displayed significant versatilities of sizes, shapes, microstructures, and compositions as building blocks. The generic nature of this method led to a large family of modularly assembled superstructures including core-satellite, hollow, hierarchically organized supraparticles, and inorganic-biological hybrids. In functional aspects, the polyphenol-based materials were tailored for biosynthesis, seawater uranium extraction, advanced drug delivery, positron emission tomography (PET), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), catalysis, electromagnetic (EM) applications, etc.