Research

OVERVIEW:

Dr. Xing Wang is a bioengineer and biochemist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).  His research group utilizes nucleic acid and protein engineering and chemistry to evolve new molecular binders, and create and customize designer DNA nanostructure-based “plug-and-play” platforms for bioengineering, bionanotechnology, and biochemical applications centered on healthcare. He is an inventor of the DNA Star, DNA Net, and DNA NanoGripper platforms and multivalent, pattern-recognition enabled principle/strategy for disease diagnostics and therapeutics (Nat. Chem., 2020; Nat. Protoc., 2022; J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2023, 2024; Sci. Robot., 2024; Adv. Funct. Mater., 2025).  Dr. Wang's Nucleic Acids Programming Lab (NAPL) is focused on the creation and development of (1) ultrasensitive and inexpensive biosensors for rapid, simple, and amplification free disease diagnostics in point-of-care, self-testing, on-farm, and laboratory-based high-throughput settings, (2) effective therapeutic candidates and targeted drug/mRNA delivery platforms for cancer treatment and immunotherapy, as well as inhibition and prevention of viral infections, (3) machine learning model, molecular docking, and molecular dynamic simulations pipeline to rapidly obtain new ligands for targeted drug delivery, and (4) molecular barcodes for multiplex and high resolution biosensing and imaging.  His research group is mainly supported by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.

AWARDS AND RESEARCH GRANTS/FUNDING: