Welcome
The Lu group's interests lie at the interface between chemistry and biology. We are developing innovative chemical approaches to provide deeper insight into biological structures and functions. We are also taking advantage of recently developed biological tools to advance many areas in chemistry, such as inorganic chemistry, chemical biology, and materials chemistry. We strive to make significant contributions in three principal areas of research:
- Biosynthetic Inorganic Chemistry and its application in environmentally benign catalysis in renewable energy generation and pharmaceuticals.
- Fundamentals of DNAzymes and Sensor Development for environmental monitoring and medical diagnostics.
- Principles of Biology and Nanomaterials and applications in photonics and sensing.
Recent News
2013 03 11 | Reversible assembly leads to tiny encrypted messages | Recent work by Brian N. Y. Wong et al. shows the development of a method for reversible and dymanic nano-assembly used to encrypt Morse code messages on a DNA origami tile. This work has been highlighted by UIUC News, JACS Spotlights.
2012 08 17 | 'Genetic code' guides nanoparticle growth | Work by Zidong Wang et al. demonstrating the use of defined DNA sequences to achieve specific nanopartical morphologies has been highlighted in C&EN, Chemistry World, and others! More.
2012 05 07 | Bespoke Enzymes Push The Envelope | Resent work by Kyle Miner et al. and Xiaohong Liu et al., studying the role of tyrosine in oxidase activity in the myoglobin based oxidase mimic CuBMb, has highlighted the functional importance of this structural feature and it's histidine crosslink. This work has been highlighted by C&EN.