Hongjun Liang

Position: Assistant Professor
Education: B.S., University of Science and Technology of China; Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Research Interests: Interactions of biological functionality and exogenous surface at different length scale: microbiologically influenced corrosion and biofilm; membrane protein crystallization and membrane protein-based devices; bio-inspired energy conversion; self-assembly; interactions of nanomaterials with bio-system; drug-delivery; biomineralization.

Office: Hill Hall 301
Phone: 303-384-2339
E-mail: hjliang@mines.edu

Our Complex Functional Materials Group at Mines builds in the interdisciplinary area of material sciences, bioengineering, and molecular biology. The central theme of our research is to study the cooperative interactions between biological functionalities and exogenous surfaces at different length scales, which will have direct impacts on human health and environmental safety issues, nanoscience and nanotechnology, bio-inspired energy conversion and storage, as well as many other disciplines. Examples of our research projects include:

1. Biofilm and microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC): Biofilm is a substrate-attached microorganism community confined within a self-developed polymeric matrix that is highly structured and resistant to environmental disturbance. Although biofilm formation has long been known to influence corrosion, effective prevention and control of MIC are poorly understood;

2. Membrane protein assembly and application: Membrane proteins are a class of nanoscopic entities associated with cell membranes, and are the "gate-keepers" for matter, energy, and information transport across the cellular boundaries. They are estimated to represent 20-30% of the currently sequenced genomes, and are targets for about 70% of all drugs in the market. Little is known on how to harvest their unique function in practical devices. We are investigating the design rules to create stable and addressable functional membrane protein arrays on engineered substrates;

3. Artificial "cell" for drug-delivery: Extraordinary advances in molecular biology and biochemical engineering have been made to develop vast arrays of therapeutic agents. To develop strategies for their highly specific and efficient delivery is equally important but lags far behind. Emerging nanotechnology is expected to play a pivotal role for drug delivery. However, the general opsonization-mediated phagocytosis, cytotoxicity and immunogenicity are some of the intrinsic problems when these nonselective nano-carriers enter the circulation system. We are interested in the development of artificial "cell" comprised of nanoscopic "nucleus" (which either bears functions itself or is loaded with desired cargoes of biomedical interests) and bioactive membrane (which renders the "cells" responsive to biological stimuli and site-specific targeting property) for the next generation drug-delivery;

4. Cooperative assembly of nanoscopic objects with biomolecules: Although biomolecules differs greatly in sizes and structures, many of them have at least one dimension in the size regime of 10⁰-10¹ nm. The same is true for various engineered nanomaterials that are increasingly implemented in various fields and are expected to lead the next industrial revolution. Cooperative assembly between biomolecules and nanomaterials is expected. Although human and environmental exposure to nanomaterials is inevitable, the potential toxic effects of such exposure are largely unknown. Studying the cooperative assembly of nanoscopic objects with biomolecules is crucial to understand the metabolic pathways of the nanoscopic objects, which are key for their desired functions (e.g. in the field of nanomedicine) and inherent toxicity. It will also give insight on the bio-inspired assembly of nanoscopic objects into functional devices.

Positions Open: We are seeking motivated postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and undergraduate students who are interested in the broadly defined biomaterials area.

Selected Publications:

1) Q. H. Shi, H.J. Liang, D. Feng, J. F. Wang, and G. D. Stucky, "Porous carbon and carbon/metal oxide microfibers with well-controlled pore structure and interface", J. Am. Chem. Soc. 130, 5034-5035 (2008).
See also: Chemical & Engineering News, Science & Technology Concentrate, 4/07/2008
2) H. J. Liang, G. Whited, C. Nguyen, A. Okerlund, and G. D. Stucky, "Inherently tunable electrostatic assembly of membrane proteins", Nano Lett. 8, 333-339 (2008).
3) H. J. Liang, G. Whited, C. Nguyen, and G. D. Stucky, "The directed cooperative assembly of proteorhodopsin into 2D and 3D polarized arrays", Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 104, 8212-8217 (2007).
4) H. J. Liang, D. Harries, and G. C. L. Wong, "Polymorphism of DNA-anionic liposome complexes reveals hierarchy of ion-mediated interactions", Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 102, 11173-11178 (2005).
See also: Advanced Photon Source Scientific Highlight (2005); Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory Scientific Highlight (2006).
5) T. E. Angelini, H. J. Liang, W. Wriggers, and G. C. L. Wong, "Direct observation of counterion organization in F-actin polyelectrolyte bundles", Eur. Phys. J. E 16, 389-400 (2005).
6) H. J. Liang, T. E. Angelini, P. V. Braun, and G. C. L. Wong, "Roles of anionic and cationic template components in biomineralization of CdS nanorods using self-assembled DNA-membrane complexes", J. Am. Chem. Soc. 126, 14157-14165 (2004).
7) L. H. Yang*, H. J. Liang*, T. E. Angelini, J. Butler, R. Coridan, J. X. Tang, and G. C. L. Wong, "Self-assembled virus-membrane complexes", Nature Mater. 3, 615-619 (2004).
See also: News and Views, Nature Materials, 3(2004), 584-586.
8) H. J. Liang, T. E. Angelini, J. Ho, P. V. Braun, and G. C. L. Wong, "Molecular imprinting of biomineralized CdS nanostructures: Crystallographic control using self-assembled DNA-membrane templates", J. Am. Chem. Soc. 125, 11786-11787 (2003).
See also: Chemical & Engineering News, News of the Week, 9/29/2003; Chemical & Engineering News, Year 2003 Chemistry Highlight.
9) T. E. Angelini, H. J. Liang, W. Wriggers, and G. C. L. Wong, "Like-charge attraction between polyelectrolytes induced by counterion charge density waves", Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 100, 8634-8637 (2003).