Topic：Bioinspired multifunctional polymers: Emerging synthesis, processing and applications

报告人：Prof. Mingfeng Wang
School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University
报告时间：2017年12月16日上午9:30（星期六）
报告地点：无机超分子楼一楼圆形报告厅

报告摘要：
Biological systems are featured by emergent properties in many processes such as energy and chemical transduction, communication, adaptation, self-repair and reproduction. They provide the proof-of-concept for what can physically be achieved with manmade materials and technology. For instance, in the green fluorescent proteins in glowing jellyfish, the chromophore embedded in the protein cage is completely protected from bulk solvent, leading to high quantum yield of fluorescence and robust photostability.
In this talk, I will first present our recent research on a series of bioinspired fluorescent polymers of polycaprolactone (PCL) with tunable light emission wavelengths across visible to near-infrared region. The highly fluorescent PCL polymers that we have designed and synthesized, resembling the feature of green fluorescent proteins (GFP), show minimal aggregation-caused fluorescence quenching and significantly improved photostability. We further demonstrate that these fluorescent polymers can be used for high-resolution imaging and long-term tracking of cell-substrate interaction such as oligodentrocyte myelination. In particular, the near-infrared fluorescent polymers have shown promising applications for noninvasive deep-tissue imaging to track the status of implanted PCL scaffolds. We expect these highly fluorescent PCL polymers will find broad biomedical applications such as bioimaging, tissue engineering, and imaging-guided therapy of cancers and other diseases.

报告人简介：
Mingfeng Wang is currently a Nanyang Assistant Professor in the School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He received his B.Sc. degree in Chemistry at Jilin University in 2001, followed by his M.Sc. degree in Polymer Chemistry and Physics under the supervision of Prof. Xi Zhang. In 2004, he joined Prof. Mitchell A. Winnik’s group at the University of Toronto and obtained his Ph.D. degree in Polymer Chemistry and Materials in 2009. Then he was awarded with a Postdoctoral Fellowship supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and moved to Prof. Fred Wudl’s group at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He joined the School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering at Nanyang Technological University in 2012. His current research focuses on polymeric materials with bioinspired structures and advanced functions for optoelectronic and biomedical applications.