Contributors to the Pioneering Investigators collection 2025: part 2

Christopher Alabi's research in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Cornell pioneered the synthesis and study of sequence-defined macromolecules and has been recognized with the PMSE Young Investigator Award and election to the AIMBE College of Fellows, among other distinctions. A dedicated educator and mentor, he received Cornell's Tau Beta Pi Professor of the Year and the 2022 Richard F. Tucker Excellence in Teaching Award. The Alabi Lab investigates how macromolecular composition and sequence shape chemical, structural, and biological properties to engineer sustainable functional materials, biomolecular therapeutics, and drug delivery systems.

Abdullah Aydogan obtained his PhD in 2010 from Istanbul Technical University of Turkey. During post-doctoral research with Prof. Jonathan L. Sessler at the University of Texas at Austin, he worked on supramolecular polymers, anion-recognition-triggered assembly and disassembly of gold nanoparticles and electrochemical anion sensors. Currently, he is a full professor at the Chemistry Department of Istanbul Technical University. His research focuses on the development of supramolecular polymers and advanced supramolecular systems and their applications in ion recognition, sensing, adhesives, and remediation of organic micropollutants, aiming to create innovative solutions for environmental protection and advanced material design.

Tatiana Besset got her PhD in Chemistry in 2009 from the University of Grenoble in the team of Dr Greene. Then, she joined the group of Prof. Glorius as a postdoctoral researcher. In 2011, she undertook an industrial postdoctoral position in the group of Prof. Reek at the University of Amsterdam with the Eastman Chemical Company. From 2012 to 2021, she held a CNRS Research Scientist position in the “Synthesis of Fluorinated Biomolecules” group at the COBRA Laboratory, where she obtained her habilitation in 2018. Since 2022, she has been working at the CARMeN Institute (Rouen, France) as a CNRS Research Director.

Chen Chen is a full professor at the Department of Chemistry of Tsinghua University. He received his BSc at the Beijing Institute of Technology in 2006 and PhD in Chemistry at Tsinghua University in 2011. After three years of postdoctoral training at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, he joined the Department of Chemistry at Tsinghua University as an associate professor in 2015 and was promoted to a professor in 2021. His recent research interests focus on the design and synthesis of inorganic/organic materials for application in electrocatalysis, thermal catalysis, and sustainable energy.

Chi Wai Cheung received his PhD from The Chinese University of Hong Kong under Prof. Kin Shing Chan. He was a Croucher Postdoctoral Fellow in Prof. Stephen L. Buchwald's laboratory at MIT and subsequently conducted postdoctoral research with Prof. Xile Hu at EPFL. He then joined Tianjin University as an associate professor in collaboration with Prof. Jun-An Ma. In 2024, he relocated to Hong Kong as a research assistant professor in Prof. Fuk Yee Kwong's group. His research focuses on photocatalysis, base-metal catalysis, inert-bond activation, and cross-coupling reactions for organic synthesis.

Eun Jin Cho is a Professor of Chemistry at Chung-Ang University, Republic of Korea. She earned her PhD in 2008 from the University of Wisconsin–Madison under Professor Daesung Lee and conducted postdoctoral research with Professor Stephen L. Buchwald at MIT. She began her independent career in 2011 as an Assistant Professor at Hanyang University (ERICA), joined Chung-Ang University in 2015, and became a Full Professor in 2019. Her research focuses on developing new chemical reactions and synthesizing functional materials.

Selvan Demir received her PhD in Chemistry from the University of Cologne. Following postdoctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and at LBNL, and a Junior Professorship in Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Göttingen, she joined Michigan State University as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry in 2019. Her research program focuses on single-molecule magnetism, quantum information science, small-molecule activation, and catalysis, with the rare earth and actinide elements. She received numerous awards, such as the NSF CAREER Award (2024), the American Chemical Society's ACS WCC Rising Star Award (2025), the Bessel Research Award by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2025), the Sloan Research Fellowship (2025), and the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (2025).

Dr Yuval Elani is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London. He co-directs the Imperial Membrane Biophysics Platform and is co-founder of fabriCELL, a centre dedicated to advancing synthetic cell technologies. Yuval studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge before completing his PhD in 2015 at Imperial's Institute of Chemical Biology. His group is focused on blue-sky research, where they aim to build fully synthetic cells in the lab: cells that are autonomous, programmable, and capable of exhibiting life-like behaviours, but which are built from the bottom-up from molecular components.

Zhang Feng obtained his Bachelor's degree in 2010 from Southwest University in China and completed his PhD in 2015 at the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (SIOC), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), under the guidance of Prof. Xingang Zhang. Following his PhD, he conducted postdoctoral research at Princeton University with Prof. David W. C. MacMillan. In 2017, he began his independent research career at Chongqing University, where he was promoted to full professor in 2023. His current research interests are focused on iron catalysis and organosilicon and organoboron chemistry.

Jinming Hu is a Full Professor of Polymer Chemistry in the Department of Polymer Science and Engineering at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). He obtained his BS degree from Hefei University of Technology in 2007 and his PhD in Polymer Chemistry from USTC in 2012 under the supervision of Prof. Shiyong Liu. From 2013 to 2015, he carried out postdoctoral research with Prof. Thomas P. Davis at the University of New South Wales and Monash University. His research interests include precision polymer chemistry, nanomedicine, and gasotransmitter-based therapies.

Prof. Dr Stephanie Kath-Schorr is Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Cologne, Germany. Trained in biochemistry and organic chemistry, she held positions at LMU Munich, Germany, the University of Dundee, UK, and the University of Bonn, Germany, before joining Cologne in 2020 as tenure track associate professor and was promoted to full professor in 2025. Her research focuses on nucleic acid chemistry at the interface of chemistry, biology, and medicine. The Kath-Schorr Lab develops chemically modified nucleic acids to study their structure–function relationships and develops nucleic acid-based tools for therapeutics and diagnostics.

Jung-Hyun Kim is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at The Ohio State University (OSU). His research focuses on advanced energy storage and conversion materials, including Li-ion batteries, all-solid-state batteries, and solid oxide fuel cells. Prior to joining OSU, he worked as a Senior Researcher at the General Motors R&D Center and as a Postdoc at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He earned his PhD from The University of Texas at Austin. His contributions have been recognized with the Lumley Research Award (2021) and the Harrison Faculty Award for Excellence in Engineering Education (2024).

Man-Bo Li was born in Hubei, China, in 1986. He received his BS (2008) and PhD (2013) degrees from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). After postdoctoral research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and Stockholm University (SU), he started his independent academic career as a professor at Anhui University in 2019. Professor Li has authored over 80 scientific publications and has received scientific awards, including the Thieme Chemistry Journals Award. His current research interests focus on atomically precise metal nanoclusters.

Dr Biplab Maji is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata. He earned his MSc from IIT Kanpur and PhD from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, followed by postdoctoral research in Japan and Germany. His research focuses on sustainable catalysis using earth-abundant metals, hydrogen transfer reactions, visible-light photocatalysis, and asymmetric catalysis, and complex molecule synthesis. He is a recipient of the INSA Medal for Young Scientists, NASI-Young Scientist Platinum Jubilee Award, and Thieme Chemistry Journals Award, is an associate of the Indian Academy of Sciences and serves on several editorial boards.

Hoi Ri Moon is a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Nanoscience at Ewha Womans University. In 2007, she completed her PhD degree in Chemistry at Seoul National University. Following that, she conducted postdoctoral research at the Molecular Foundry of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. From 2010 to 2022, she served as a faculty member at UNIST. Recently, in 2023, she joined Ewha Womans University as a Ewha Fellow professor. Her current research focuses on ordered/disordered and flexible metal–organic frameworks and their crystal engineering for applications such as gas separation, storage, molecular sensing, and catalytic reactions.

Junya Ohyama received his PhD degree in engineering from Kyoto University in 2011. He then joined the Graduate School of Engineering at Nagoya University as an assistant professor. In 2018, he joined the Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology at Kumamoto University as an associate professor. His current research interests focus on designing and developing solid catalyst structures through the understanding of structure-performance relationships for applications in fuel cells, methane conversion, and exhaust gas purification.

Bo Peng is a Professor at Zhejiang Normal University, where he has been leading an independent research group since 2015. He earned his PhD from Dalian University of Technology in 2010 under the guidance of Prof. Ming Bao, followed by postdoctoral training at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on developing novel rearrangement reactions utilizing highly reactive organic species.

Carlos Romero-Nieto is currently a Professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM). He obtained his PhD in Chemistry from UCLM and then joined the group of Prof. Guldi at the University of Erlangen for a postdoctoral stay. In 2013, he established his independent research group at the University of Heidelberg, where he obtained his habilitation in 2019. His research focuses on phosphorus heterocycles for optoelectronics and biomedical applications. His work has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards, including the RSEQ National Young Investigator Award (2018), and in 2023 he received an ERC Consolidator Grant.

Daeha Seo is currently an Associate Professor of Chemistry at POSTECH, South Korea. His research combines single-molecule imaging, inorganic chemistry, and molecular biology to investigate fundamental biochemical processes. He received his PhD from KAIST in 2010 and carried out postdoctoral research at UCSF and UC Berkeley from 2011 to 2016. Prior to joining POSTECH, he served as a faculty member at DGIST (2016–2025). His work has advanced the understanding of protein dynamics, spatially regulated catalysis, and nanoparticle-mediated modulation of biological systems, bridging chemistry, biophysics, and biomedical applications.

Li Shang is a Professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, China, and a visiting professor at Queen Mary University of London, UK. His research focuses on the development of functional luminescent nanomaterials for biological applications. Up to now, he has published more than 130 peer-reviewed papers, with an H-index of 53. He serves as an editorial board member of Chinese Chemical Letters, and received several awards including the Alexander von Humboldt Fellow, National Youth Talents Programme, and Elsevier Most Cited Chinese Researchers (2021–2024).

Shi-Liang Shi obtained his PhD degree from Tokyo University under the guidance of Prof. Masakatsu Shibasaki and Prof. Motomu Kanai in 2011. Following this, he conducted postdoctoral research with Prof. Motomu Kanai at the University of Tokyo (2011–2012) before moving to MIT, where he worked with Prof. Stephen L. Buchwald (2012–2016). In 2016, he began his independent research career as a full professor at Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry. Currently, his research focuses on organic synthesis and asymmetric catalysis.

Judith Su is a Craig M. Berge Faculty Fellow and an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona. She received her BS and MS from MIT in Mechanical Engineering and her PhD from Caltech in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics. Her research focuses on developing ultrasensitive optical sensors for applications in biology, medicine, and environmental monitoring. She is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award, NIH R35 MIRA, and several early career honors. She is a Fellow of SPIE, and served as general chair for Optica's Integrated Photonics Research Conference in 2023, 2024, and 2025.

Dr Ranjit Thakuria received his PhD in 2011 from the University of Hyderabad, India, under Prof. Ashwini K. Nangia. He completed postdoctoral research with Prof. William Jones at University of Cambridge, UK (2011–2012) and Prof. Israel Goldberg at Tel Aviv University, Israel (2013–2014). Since 2014, he has been at Gauhati University, Assam, currently serving as Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry. His achievements include the DST-Young Scientist Award (2014), ACS Crystal Growth & Design Emerging Investigators Award (2019, 2022), DST-JSPS joint research project (2024), and Ulam Nawa Fellowship at the University of Warsaw, Poland (2025).

Xu Wang is a professor at the National Engineering Research Center for Colloidal Materials at Shandong University. He received his BSc and PhD from Jilin University. He has been a faculty member at Shandong University since 2017, following the completion of his postdoctoral studies at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and State University of New York Upstate Medical University. His current research interests mainly focus on the design and fabrication of transient and/or sustainable polymer materials. He also serves as a member of the editorial advisory board for ChemSystemsChem, as well as a member of the young editorial board for Materials Futures.

Xin Xu received his BS and MS degrees from East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST) in 2003 and 2006. He obtained his PhD jointly from Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (SIOC) and ECUST in 2010 under the supervision of Prof. Yaofeng Chen. Afterwards, he moved to Germany and joined the group of Prof. Gerhard Erker at the University of Münster as a postdoc supported by an Alexander von Humboldt research fellowship. In March 2015, he started his independent research at Soochow University. His group currently focuses on organometallic chemistry of main-group (Zn, Mg, Ca) and rare-earth elements.

You Xu is currently an associate professor at Zhejiang University of Technology (China). He earned his PhD (2014) under the supervision of Professor Bin Zhang at Tianjin University (China), and subsequently conducted postdoctoral research with Professor Rong Xu at Nanyang Technological University (Singapore). In 2017, he joined Zhejiang University of Technology and began his independent career. His research interests focus on the design and development of advanced materials for electrocatalysis and electrosynthesis applications.

Zhenyu (Kevin) Yang earned his BSc in Chemistry from Nankai University in 2009 and his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Alberta in 2014 under the supervision of Prof. Jonathan Veinot. From 2014 to 2018, he was a postdoctoral research fellow in the group of Prof. Edward Sargent at the University of Toronto. In 2018, he joined the School of Chemistry at Sun Yat-sen University as a Professor. His research focuses on the synthesis and surface chemistry of quantum dots, as well as the development of solution-processed optoelectronic devices, including light-emitting diodes and photovoltaics.

Zhijie Yang received his PhD from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (France) in 2014 under the supervision of Prof. Marie-Paule Pileni. He is currently a full professor at Shandong University. His research focuses on chemical self-assembly, chiral materials, supramolecular chemistry, and biomimicry.

Ngai Yin Yip is the La Von Duddleson Krumb Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University. He received his doctoral degree in Chemical and Environmental Engineering from Yale University. His current research is focused on advancing physicochemical technologies and innovations for critical separation challenges in water, energy, and the environment. For his research contributions, Dr Yip has been recognized with the Impact Award by the Global Prize Innovation in Desalination and has been listed as a top 2%-cited researcher by Stanford-Elsevier since 2018. He is currently an associate editor for the RSC journal Environmental Science: Advances.

Da-Gang Yu received his BS degree from Sichuan University in 2007 and his PhD from Peking University in 2012 (mentor: Professor Zhang-Jie Shi). He then conducted postdoctoral research as a Humboldtian in Professor Frank Glorius’ group at the University of Münster. In 2015, he was appointed as a Professor in the College of Chemistry of Sichuan University to carry out his independent work, focusing on CO₂ utilization in organic synthesis. He received the Chinese Chemical Society–Royal Society of Chemistry Youth Award and Kyoto Rising-Star Lectureship Award. He is also serving as an Associate Editor for Chemical Synthesis and Chinese Chemical Letters.

Shaodong Zhang is currently a Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He earned his PhD from Sorbonne University (formerly Pierre and Marie Curie University) in November 2012. Following two postdoctoral positions—first at the University of Pennsylvania and then at Imperial College London—he assumed his current role, where his research focuses on cages, their catenated structures, and polycatenation.

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