Research Directions

We are an interdisciplinary materials research group. The research in the Yang lab at Mizzou is focused on confining natural biomacromolecules into porous nanostructures in order to (1) endorse the resultant materials the properties and functions of both the biological and artificial counterparts and (2) use porous nanostructures to mimic the confined cellular environment biopolymers experience in nature, promoting life science research. Depending on the selection of the "guest" and "host" of the confinement, various advanced (bio)materials and/or biophysics information can be resulted. Currently, our research spans 5 major areas, with a high potential of expanding through collaborations!

Biomedical science: we are developing advanced nanostructures for (1) sophisticated biomacromolecular therapeutics delivery, (2) understanding behaviors of intrinsically disordered proteins in neurodegenerative disorders and other fatal diseases, and (3) enzyme-based drug synthesis. We are actively looking for talented students and postdocs to join this area, as well as collaborations in academics and industry.

Energy science: we are developing advanced hybrid materials based on confining key enzyme in synthetic nanostructures in order to promote (1) crude oil extraction and conversion, (2) redox enzyme catalytic efficiency, and (3) quantum information science. We are actively looking for talented students and postdocs to join this area, as well as collaborations in academics and industry.

Environmental science: in collaboration with various teams, we are developing hybrid materials to achieve the accumulation and biodegradation of key pollutants in the environment as well as sea water desalination.

Sustainable materials: we are developing advanced biocatalysts for the rapid and sustainable degradation of biomass as materials and energy sources.

Biophysics: we are developing nanostructures to create artificial but controllable spatial confinement in order to understand how confinement impacts protein structure, dynamics, folding, translocation, function, and aggregation as well as advanced experimental techniques based on electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy in order to understand protein biophysics under extreme temperature, pH, pressure, and/or salt concentrations.

Overall, our goals are to ultimately better the environment and people’s life as well as broaden the resources of materials and energy on earth.