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Peng Chen

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Website designed by J. S. Kong
 

Single-Molecule Chemistry:

Catalysis, Bioinorganics, Biophysics

 

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October 2020:

• We welcome 1st year graduate student Tianlei Yan joining us for PhD research. Tianlei did his BS in Chemistry at UW Madison.

September 2020:

• Congratulations to Xianwen on being named a finalist of Blavatnik Regional Award for Young Scientists! He is recognized for "the development of a groundbreaking imaging technique that allows for the visualization of various classes of non-fluorescent systems." See Blavatnik awardee profile at here and Cornell news feature here.

August 2020:

• The group celebrates the summer and tackles the pandemic restrictions with a picnic/BBQ at Stewart park. Check out the yoga skills of Chen lab members in the above group picture and their culinary skills in the pictures below. Thanks to Felix for organizing and to all for making this gathering fun and safe!

June 2020:

• Congratulations to Lauren on winning the Excellence in Leadership award. See award announcement.
• We welcome Dr. Wenjie Li joining us as a postdoc! Wenjie did his PhD with Prof. Song Jin at University of Wisconsin at Madison.

May 2020:

• Group bid farewell to Lauren and Heting with a virtual gathering. Lauren will become an Assistant Professor in Chemistry at Univ of Delaware, her alma mater. Heting will move to UCLA, also her alma mater, for PhD. Our best wishes to both of them!
• Cornell Chronicle features our work on imaging CusRS in bacteria: "Researchers track how bacteria purge toxic metals."
• Bing, Kushal, and Lauren's paper on CusRS came out on PNAS online: "Metal-induced sensor mobilization turns on affinity to activate regulator for metal detoxification in live bacteria."
• Congratulations to Lauren on successfully passing B-exam (PhD thesis defense)!

Archived News

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Honors Won by Group Members

• Graduate Students

  Nesha May Andoy: Tunis Wentink Prize for Outstanding Academic and Research Performance, 2010
  Jaime Benitez: NIH Molecular Biophysics Traineeship, 2006-2009; Carl Storm Underrepresented Minority Fellowship, GRC, 2008
  Eric Choudhary: NSF IGERT Fellowship on Materials for a Sustainable Future, 2010-2012
  Aaron Keller: NIH Molecular Biophysics Traineeship, 2007-2009; Poster Award, Cell Biology of Metals Gordon Research Conference, 2009; Poster Award, Graduate Association of Chemistry poster session, 2010
  Danya Martell Smart: NIH Chemistry and Biology Interfaces Traineeship,2011; Howard Neal Wachter Memorial Prize,2013; Bauer Scholarship Award, 2014; NIH postdoctoral fellowship, 2017
  Kaori Kubo: Heiwa Nakajima fellowship, 2011-2013
  Ace George Santiago: Simon Bauer Scholarship Award, 2015
  Danny Francis: NSF Graduate Fellowship, 2016-2019
  Won Jung: Howard Neal Wachter Memorial Prize, 2016
  Lauren Genova: NIH Chemistry and Biology Interfaces Traineeship, 2016; Howard Neal Wachter Memorial Prize, 2018; NIH NRSA Predoctoral Fellowship, 2019; P.E.O. Scholar Award, 2019; Excellence in Leadership Award, 2020

• Postdocs

  Justin Sambur: NSF postdoc fellowship, 2011
  Rocky Ye: Cornell Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2018
  Xianwen Mao: MRS Postdoctoral Award, 2020; Finalist, Blavatnik Regional Award for Young Scientists, 2020

• Undergraduate Students

  Aleksandr Kalininskiy: Hughes Scholar, 2008
  Derek Klarin: Hughes Scholar, 2006
  Weilin Meng: Hill Fellowship for Undergraduate Summer Research, 2010

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News articles featuring our research:

• Cornell Chronicle features our work on imaging CusRS in bacteria: "Researchers track how bacteria purge toxic metals."
• F1000Prime Recommends Won's work on Zur, rating it "exceptional". DOI: 10.3410/f.737317970.793572020.
• Cornell Chronicle article features Lauren's work: "Physical forces affect bacteria’s toxin resistance, study finds." See also EurekAlert version.
• Cornell Chronicle story features our newly funded research on bioenergy conversion: "Interdisciplinary team gets $2M grant for bioenergy conversion."
• Xianwen's paper featured on the cover of August 2019 issue of Nature Chemistry.
• "Superresolution Imaging Method Aids in Water Decontamination," Photonics media.
• “Breakthrough imaging of non-fluorescent reactions,” Microscopy and Analysis editorial, July 10, 2019.
• "Extending fluorescence microscopy to nonfluorescent reactions," Chem. Eng. News, July 12, 2019.
• "Minder zien, meer weten," Dutch news platform [C2w].
• "New imaging method aids in water decontamination," Cornell Chronicle, July 8, 2019. See also EurekAlert!, Phys.org, Nanowerk, Newswise, ScienceDaily, Environmental News Network, Azooptics, Science360 News.
• "A first: Cornell researchers quantify photocurrent loss in particle interface," Cornell Chronicle, January 30, 2019.
• JACS spotlights: "Photo(electro)catalysts, ready for their extreme close-up," J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 6727-6728.
• "Communicating catalysts," Nature Chem. 2018, 10, 580-582.
• "Communication is key in nanocatalysts too," Nanotechweb.org, UK Institute of Physics.
• "Nanoparticle catalysts communicate across distances," Chem. Eng. News 2018, 96, 6.
• "Understanding nanocatalysts' 'talk' could better inform design," Cornell Chronicle, March 26, 2018.
• Army Research Lab YouTube video: "Army research is paving way to materials of the future."
• "Army research leading to materials of the future wins national award," Army Research Lab press release; February 6, 2018.
• "Research of the Year," Chem. Eng. News 2017, 95(49).
• "Method reveals secrets of bimetallic catalysts" Chem. Eng. News 2017, 95, 9.
• "First-ever visualization of enhanced catalytic activity reported" Cornell Chronicle, Nov 1, 2017.
• "Polymer chains grow one ‘hairball’ at a time" Nature 2017, 550 (7677), research highlights.
• "Experiment shows that polymers grow in spurts," This Week in Chemistry, Compound Interest.
• "Close up view of growing polymer chain show jump steps" Phys.org, October 20, 2017.
• "Polymers: Watching growth, step by step" Science 2017, 358, 316.
• "Single-molecule experiment reveals polymer growth spurts" Chem. Eng. News 2017, 95, 4.
• "Magnetic tweezers reveal ‘hairballs’ in polymer growth" Cornell Chronicle, Oct 19, 2017.
• "E. coli bacteria's defense secret revealed" Cornell Chronicle, June 12, 2017.
• "Cellular Pumps Help E. Coli Beat Antibiotics," Invisiverse, News of the Secret, Beautiful and Dangerous World of Microbes.
•  "A ‘Hole’ New World: Improving the Efficiency of Water Splitting," Cornell Daily Sun,  March 1, 2016.
• “Water Splitting: Placing the catalyst where it's needed” Science 2016, 351, 828.
• "Electrochemistry: Photocatalysts in close-up," Nature 2016, 530, 36-37.
• "Fluorescence Method Maps Reactivity Hot Spots On A Catalyst’s Surface," Chem. Eng. News 2016, 94, 8.
• "Researchers seek efficient means of splitting water," Cornell Chronicle, Feb 4, 2016.
  
• Faculty of 1000 Prime recommendation on Danya's PNAS paper (PNAS, 2015, 112, 13467).
• "Understanding Of Bacterial Protein’s Defense Strategy Could Lead To Antibiotics,"Chemical & Engineering News, 2015, 93, 7.
• "How Transcription Factors Depart Their Targets In Cells," Chemical & Engineering News, 2015, 93, 25.
• "Research finds protein regulation linked to cells' growth cycle," Cornell Chronicle, July 2015.
• "The Scientist: Prof. Peng Chen Studies Reactions On the Nanoscale", Cornell Daily Sun,  March 19, 2014.
• "Imaging method identifies most active catalyst particles", Chemical & Engineering News, 2013, 91, 31.
• "Proteins barge in to turn off unneeded genes and save energy", Cornell Chronicle, September 5, 2012.
• "Study Reveals Understanding Surface Defects is Important to Design Better Fuel Cells" by Cameron Chai  on Azom.com.

• "Catalytic Particles Feature Spatial-Activity Hot Spots" by Mitch Jacoby, Chemical and Engineering News, 2012, 90, 53.

• "Mapping the reactivity of single nanocatalysts" by Nina Notma, Chemistry World, February 22, 2012.

• "To make better fuel cells, study the defects" by Bill Steele, Cornell Chronicle, February 20, 2012.

• “Picture perfect pentacene” by James Mitchell Crow, Chemistry World, January 2011, 46-49.

• "Pinpointing catalytic reaction sites on carbon nanotube walls" by Michael Berger, Nanowerk, April 21, 2009.

• "Single-Molecule Fluorescence Events Seen In Real Time" by Mitch Jacoby, Chemical& Engineering News, April 20, 2009, 87, 38.

• "Catalytic behaviour of SWCNTs scrutinised" by Nina Notman, Chemistry World, April 20, 2009.

• "Finding how carbon nanotubes work as catalysts could lead to cleaner fuels" by Bill Steele, Cornell Chronicle.

• "Single nanocatalyst behavior revealed" by Nina Notman, Chemistry World, February 18, 2009.

• Chemistry Today (in Japanese), February 2009, page 12. [pdf]

• "Monitoring catalysis one particle at a time," Nanotechnology Alert, Jan 23, 2009, Frost & Sullivan.

• "Scrutinizing Catalysts" by Mitch Jacoby, Chemical & Engineering News science highlight, 2008, 86, 9.

• "When A Good Nanoparticle Goes Bad," National Science Foundation press release. 

• "New method can capture catalysis, one molecule at a time," by Bill Steele, Cornell Chronicle.

• "When a Good Nanoparticle Goes Bad," news highlight by Cornell Center for Materials Research.

• "Watching A Catalyst at Work," New Energy and Fuel.

• "Gold study 'could lead to smart catalysts being produced'" Gold News.