Jianyuan Zhang
Rutgers University-New Brunswick, NJ·Chemistry·Early-career
Nanoparticles used in medicine and imaging are usually mixtures: each batch contains particles of slightly different sizes and surface coatings. That variability makes measurements hard to reproduce and complicates quality control when a material is scaled up or stored.
- Fields
Chemistry
Materials Science
Biophysics
- Topics
fullerene
metallobuckytrio
hexakisadduct
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Jun 2028
What they work on
- Build MRI contrast agents from metallobuckytrios, two gadolinium-filled carbon cages bonded to one C60, carrying biochemical ligands that bind cancer cells at multiple points, and test their image brightness, structural precision and metal safety.
- Develop FullerFISH probes that carry 10 to 30 dyes on one fullerene hexakisadduct to amplify RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization signals, enabling detection and counting of short or low-abundance RNA molecules.
- Exploit the antioxidative property of fullerene hexakisadducts to make dye-loaded probes that resist photobleaching and amplify signal for live-cell imaging and single-molecule FRET experiments.
- Attach a bioresponsive dye and an always-on reference dye in an exact 1:1 ratio and shared location on one fullerene particle, creating ratiometric nanoprobes that sense and track biological events.
- Introduce saccharide-functionalized ligands onto gadolinium metallobuckytrios to raise T1 relaxivity, the measure of how strongly an agent brightens MRI images, while keeping the structure precisely defined and water-soluble.
- Attach porphyrin ligands, light-absorbing ring molecules, to metallobuckytrios and measure photo-induced charge separation and recombination in the resulting porphyrin-fullerene tridecads.
- Attach dye ligands to water-soluble metallofullerene derivatives to form combined photosensitizers, and relate their structural parameters to electro-optic properties relevant to photodynamic therapy.
More about the research
The alternative pursued here is to build nanoparticles the way chemists build molecules, atom by atom, so every copy is identical. The building block is the fullerene, a nanometer-sized hollow ball of carbon atoms. A fullerene is rigid, so it holds its size and shape like an inorganic particle, yet it can be decorated through ordinary organic reactions that form strong carbon-carbon bonds. The lab works with a hexakisadduct of C60, a form of the carbon ball carrying six symmetric attachment points, and uses it as a modular hub for attaching many copies of a chosen chemical group. A related platform, the metallobuckytrio, links two metal-filled fullerenes to one C60. Metal-filled fullerenes, called endohedral metallofullerenes, trap metal ions inside the carbon cage.
Why it matters
Because every molecule in a batch is identical, fullerene-based nanoparticles could give biologists and clinicians imaging agents that behave reproducibly and can be quantified reliably, unlike conventional mixed-size nanoparticles. The work may yield MRI contrast agents that keep gadolinium safely enclosed while brightening images and targeting cancer cells, fluorescent probes that count scarce RNA molecules or resist fading during live-cell imaging, and light-activated molecules relevant to photodynamic therapy. Understanding how water-soluble metallofullerenes behave would also inform their use in catalysis, electronics and quantum materials.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Haiying Liu
Michigan Technological University, MI·Chemistry
Design and synthesize near-infrared BODIPY dye probes that emit two colors whose ratio reports viscosity, with improved water solubility, stability and ability to enter cells.
Fangyuan Ding
University of California-Irvine, CA·Biophysics·Early-career
Develop SMOOTHY-FISH, a fluorescence in situ hybridization method that maps short RNA species such as splice isoforms, microRNAs and edited RNAs inside single cells with single-base specificity.
Ivan Aprahamian
Dartmouth College, NH·Chemistry
Improve the brightness, water solubility, cell compatibility and color range of light-switchable hydrazone dyes through structure-property studies guided by density functional theory (DFT) calculations, spectroscopy and bio-imaging.
The school
Rutgers University-New Brunswick: 57 labs on PI Pages, $837M a year on research, 713 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.