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Welcome to the Molecular Analytics and Photonics (MAP) Lab at North Carolina State University.


The MAP lab develops fluorescent & stimuli-responsive materials and single-molecule method to color-map and engineer the nanoscopic biological and man-made world.


Dr. Yang Zhang is the head of the MAP lab. He is currently an assistant professor of polymer and color chemistry in the Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science at NC State and an adjunct assistant professor of biomedical engineering in the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at NC State and UNC Chapel Hill

Lab manual can be found here






News

2024.12.20. Yang is honored to receive an NSF CAREER Award for our fundamental investigations of structure-property relationships underlying single-molecule fluorescence spectral heterogeneity (smFLUSH). What a wonderful way to close the year!

2024.12.1. Congrats to Shahid who received two grants from CMI: (1) Tracking DNA-Targeting Chemotherapeutics in Cancer Cells Using Single-Molecule Imaging; (2) Unveiling the Regulation of Higher-Order Chromatin Structure by DNA and Histone Methylation Through High-Resolution Multiscale Modeling!

2024. 10.29. Our lab has been selected as one of the inaugural occupants for the Woodson Hall (Integrative Science Building) and we look forward to contributing to the strategic planning of integrative science initiative at NC State!

2024. 9. 11. We are thrilled to receive a 5-year $1.8M NIH MIRA award to support our research program on developing next-generation fluorescent probes for functional super-resolution microscopy!

2024. 9.1. Yang received an Endoment from Barbara S. Stowe Faculty Support Award through the Wilson College of Textiles!

2024. 5.15 Welcome Beth, Camryn, and Luke joined the MAP lab as NSF REU summer research interns.

2024.5.4. Congrats to Michael for successfully defending his Master's thesis as our first MS in the group!

2024.5.1. Yang is appointed as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, at UNC Chapel Hill. If you are a prospective PhD student who is interested in joining our lab through the UNC BME program, please contact Yang.

2024.1.31 Together with Dr. Hong Wang and Dr. Xingcheng Lin from Physics Department at NCSU, we received an award from NCSU Genetics and Genomic Academy to study higher-order chromatin

2024.1.1 Welcome new lab members Xiayi Gong from Imperial College London and Yuan Sun from Jiangnan University

2023.12.15 Yang received a pilot project through NCSU Center of Human Health and the Environment to develop super-resolution imaging probes to study higher-order chromatin structures as epigenetic regulators.

2023.12.1 Our collaborative paper with Dr. Shiyan Jiang from NCSU CED entitled "Integrating Machine Learning and Color Chemistry: Developing a High-School Curriculum toward Real-World Problem-Solving" has been published in the Journal of Chemical Education as a cover article (Cover art design credited to Hongjing). Congrats Hongjing, Yunshu and Gina.

2023.11.15 Our collaborative project with Dr. Xiaomin Bao from Northwestern Molecular Biosciences entitled "Nucleoporin downregulation modulates progenitor differentiation independent of nuclear pore numbers" has been published in Commun. Bio. (by Nature Publishing Group). Congrats to Hongjing!

2023.11.8 Congrats to Yunshu for his nice presentation at the single-molecule symposium on SERMACS 2023. Also nice jobs to Shahid and Michael who presented their posters at SERMACS as well!

2023.11.1 Our manuscript entitled "Investigating Uncertainties in Single-Molecule Localization Microscopy Using Experimentally Informed Monte Carlo Simulation" has been accepted in Nano Letters. 

2023.8.31 Congrats to Yunshu for passing his preliminary exam and obtaining doctoral candidacy.

2023.8.15 Beth and Nika successfully presented their undergraduate summer research posters at NC State Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium 2023. Congrats! 

2023.6.8 Our first manuscript in the Wolfpack Style has been accepted in ACS Chemical & Biomedical Imaging to provide our Perspective on Switchable and Functional Fluorophores for Multidimensional Single-Molecule Localization Microscopy! Congrats Yunshu, Shahid, Hongjing, Gina, and Michael!

2023.6.2 Big Congrats to Gina for her first first-author publication entitled "Techniques for Navigating Post-Surgical Adhesions: Insights into Mechanisms and Future Directions" on Bioengineering & Translational Medicine!

2023.6.1 Yang received support from the Faculty Research and Professional Development (FRPD) Program at NC State University!

2.23.5.22 Welcome Beth and Nika joined the MAP lab as NSF REU summer research interns.

2023.5.1 Our collaborative proposal entitled "Spectral Discrimination of Single Molecules with Photoactivatable Fluorescence" has been funded by NSF!

2023.3.20 Yang was invited as an early-career panel reviewer for the NIH EBIT study section 02/2023

2023.3.7 Our review paper entitled "Photoactivatable BODIPYs for Live-Cell PALM" is published at the Molecules as a special issue collection of Chemical Insights in Photofunctional Organic Compounds—a Themed Issue Dedicated to Professor Vaidhyanathan Ramamurthy

2023.2.28 The first paper from the MAP lab is published as a Spotlight article at ACS Applied Optical Materials entitled "Photoactivatable Fluorophores for Bioimaging Applications".

2023.1.15. Our collaborative proposal to develop a super-resolution imaging technique to image biomedical textiles-based artificial cornea has been funded through the Wilson College Research Opportunity Seed Fund! Thanks for the generous support from the Wilson College!

2023.1.1. Michael joined the MAP lab as a Master student. Welcome!

2023.1.1 Hongjing and Shahid joined the MAP lab as PhD students. Welcome!

2022.10.1 Gina joined the MAP lab as a PhD student. Welcome!

2022.9.1 Yunshu joined the MAP lab as a PhD student. Welcome!

2022.6.30 We are hiring at all levels. Anyone who is interested in 1)  fluorescence dye synthesis for single-molecule imaging, and 2) studies of vision research, color perception and biomedical textiles, and 3) molecular weaving and knitting using color-, stimuli-responsive, supramolecular and polymeric materials, is welcome to contact Dr. Yang Zhang.

2022.6.25 Our collaborative R01 proposal entitled "Photoactivatable Fluorophores for High-Throughput Multiplexed Tracking of Single-Molecules in Live Cells" has been funded by the National Institute of General Medical Science of NIH! 

2022.6.20 Lab website is up.