Shaoyi Jiang joined the Meinig School as Robert S. Langer ’70 Family and Friends Professor in June 2020. Prior to Cornell he was the Boeing-Roundhill Professor of Engineering in the Department of Chemical Engineering and an adjunct professor of Bioengineering at the University of Washington, Seattle.
Jiang’s research focuses on the molecular understanding, design and development of functional zwitterionic materials for biomedical and engineering applications. Since the early 2000s, his group has proposed the concept of super-hydrophilic zwitterionic materials, provided a molecular-level understanding of non-fouling mechanisms and developed several new classes of zwitterionic materials, including poly(carboxybetaine), poly(sulfobetaine), poly(trimethylamine N-oxide), poly(zwitterionic phosphatidylserine), and glutamic acid (E) and lysine (K)-containing poly(peptides). While the super-hydrophilic properties of zwitterionic materials are responsible for their excellent biocompatibility, the amphiphilic properties of their poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) counterparts are the origin of their immunogenicity. His group has demonstrated no capsule formation upon subcutaneous implantation in mice for one year, expansion of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) without differentiation, no anti-coagulants needed for artificial lungs in sheep, no antibodies generated against zwitterionic polymers and long-lasting marine coatings.
At Cornell, his group aims to (a) integrate immunology into existing biomaterials research programs to develop immune-modulating biomaterials, assisted by a fundamental understanding at the molecular and cellular levels and artificial intelligence-directed materials discovery; (b) translate his biomaterials technologies into medical and engineering practice in nanomedicine/drug delivery/ cancer immune therapeutics, regenerative medicine/tissue engineering/stem cells, medical devices and marine coatings. His group has close collaborations with researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering, Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell Center for Immunology and several academic departments at Cornell.
Jiang's lab currently has multiple postdoctoral positions available.
B.S. (Chemical Engineering), Hua Qiao University, 1985
M.S. (Chemical Engineering) Nanjing Institute of Chemical Technology, 1988
Ph.D. (Chemical Engineering), Cornell University, 1993
Postdoctoral Fellow (Chemistry), University of California at Berkeley, 1993-1994
Research Fellow (Chemistry), California Institute of Technology, 1994-1996
ACS Central Science article highlights professor Shaoyi Jiang's development of zwitterionic coatings as a safe, economic alternative for mitigating the centuries-old problem of ship fouling. Read more about Seeking Nontoxic Coatings to Keep Ship Hulls Clean
Shaoyi Jiang, Ph.D. ’93, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Washington, has been named the first Robert S. Langer ’70 Family and Friends Professor at Cornell. Jiang will join the Nancy E. and Peter C. Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering in July, in a professorship honoring one of the university’s most notable engineering alumni. Read more about Alumnus named inaugural Langer Professor in Meinig School
