People

Principal Investigator

Wenwen Huang, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Chair of Centre for Regeneration and Cell Therapy

The Zhejiang University-University of Edinburgh Institute (ZJE), Zhejiang University, China

Affiliate with:
– Honorary Lecturer, Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh, UK
– Adjunct Professor, Department of Orthopedics of the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, China
– Adjunct Professor, National Key Laboratory of Biobased Transportation Fuel Technology, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, China
– Adjunct Professor, Key Laboratory of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, China
– Adjunct Professor, Biomedical and Health Translational Research Centre of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University, China
– Adjunct Professor, Dr. Li Dak Sum and Yip Yio Chin Center for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, China

ZJU Home Page | LinkedIn | Google Scholar

Dr. Wenwen Huang is an active researcher interested in the predictive design, synthesis and functionalization of protein-based biomaterials for regenerative medicine and sustainable technology innovations. She received her bachelor’s degree in Physics from Peking University, her PhD in Biophysics from Tufts University, and postdoctoral training in Biomedical Engineering from the SITEP joint program at Tufts (BME) / MIT (CEE). She joined ZJE as a faculty member in October 2018. Her research on protein-based biomaterials has been highlighted in APS News, C&EN News, MIT News, Sohu.com – technology, etc. She was awarded the title of Zhejiang Province Outstanding Young Scholar and Jiaxing City Outstanding Scholar.

Staff

Piaoping Lu, Lab manager

Piaoping joined Huang Lab as the lab manager in 2024. Her responsibilities include managing the daily operations and safety of the laboratories, dealing with financial reimbursements, and ordering consumables and reagents. She completed her undergraduate degree in Business Administration at Shobi University in Japan.

Graduate Students

Ting Ji, 2019 ZJU PhD student

Ting joined Dr. Huang’s group as a PhD graduate researcher in 2019. Her research interests focus on the design and functionalization of stimuli-responsive biomaterials for soft robotics and controlled release systems. She received her bachelor’s degree in biology science from Northwest Normal University in 2019. She is currently working on using biochemistry approaches to tailor the stimuli responsive properties of protein-based hydrogels. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, watching movies, traveling and playing badminton.

Xinchen Shen, 2020 ZJU-UoE PhD student

Xinchen joined Huang Lab as a PhD candidate in ZJU-UoE dual Ph.D. program in 2020. Her research interests include engineering smart hydrogels and nanocomposites for drug/cell delivery as well as designing microfluidic devices for tissue regeneration. She received her bachelor’s degree with a major in applied bioscience from Zhejiang University in 2020. She is currently investigating the design and fabrication of silk and elastin biomaterials for multimodality cancer therapy. In her spare time, she enjoys watching movies and learning to play new instruments.

Kexin Nie, 2021 ZJU-UoE PhD student

Kexin began her research in Professor Huang’s lab as a PhD student at ZJE in 2021. Her research fields mainly focus on developing functional biomaterials with tunable mechanics and stimuli-responsive properties for musculoskeletal tissue regeneration. She received her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Zhengzhou University in 2021. She is currently working on developing interdisciplinary approaches to design and fabricate stimuli-responsive materials for artificial muscles with capabilities similar to, or even beyond, natural muscles. In her spare time, she enjoys listening to music, singing, traveling and dancing.

Kaiyue Zhang, 2022 ZJU PhD student

Kaiyue joined Professor Huang’s lab as a full-time PhD student at ZJE in 2022. Her research mainly focuses on bionanotechnology, including designing and exploring thermo-responsive recombinant protein polymers with active targeting and drug controlled release properties for multimodality cancer therapy. She received her master’s degree in nano-science and technology from Wang Chen’s group at NCNST in 2020. Her master’s thesis is about peptide modified thermal sensitive liposomes for tumor treatment. This drug showed high biocompatibility and antitumor effects in 4T1 tumor-bearing mice model. She is currently working on high throughput screening of de novo designed smart protein carriers for targeted cancer therapy. In her spare time, she enjoys jogging, swimming, reading and shopping.

Hang Zhao, 2022 ZJU PhD student (Co-advising with Dr. Sue Welburn)

Hang joined Huang‘s Lab as a PhD candidate at ZJE in 2022, co-advising by Professors Wenwen Huang and Sue Welburn. His research fields mainly focus on developing functional biomaterials with electrical and stimuli-responsive properties for a wide range of applications such as tissue regeneration, wearable devices and soft robotics. He received his master’s degree in material science from Shandong University in 2022. He is currently investigating the design and fabrication of silk-based biomaterials for soft electronics and soft robotics. In his spare time, he enjoys jogging.

Junhan Ou, 2023 ZJU-UoE PhD student

Junhan joined Huang Lab as a PhD student in ZJU-UoE dual Ph.D. program in 2023. Her research interests focus on the design, construction and application of functional hydrogels. She received her master’s degree in bioengineering from Tianjin University in 2022. She is currently investigating the hydrogels based on protein and DNA for developing the research of stem cells and regenerative medicine. In her free time, she enjoys exploring delicious restaurants, playing board games and watching movies.

Jiajia Zhang, 2021 ZJU MSc student

Jiajia is a master student in Huang Lab since 2021. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in pharmacology from Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine. Her undergraduate research focused on analyzing the active ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine. She is currently working on designing stimuli-responsive injectable hydrogels for wound healing. Outside of her research, she enjoys listening to music and walking.

Jingyi Tian, 2022 ZJU MSc student

Jingyi joined Dr. Huang’s group as a master student in 2022. She received her bachelor’s degree in biotechnology from Yunnan University. Her project mainly focuses on ROS-responsive protein hydrogel for skin tissue regeneration. Outside of her research, she enjoys making songs, playing video games and badminton.

Xinyi Yang, 2023 ZJU MSc student

Xinyi joined Professor Huang’s lab as a master student in 2023. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in pharmacology from Northeast Forestry University. Her undergraduate research focused on multi-omics, biosynthetic pathways, and metabolic engineering of various Chinese Medicinal Herb and their active compounds. In her spare time, she enjoys watching movies and listening to all kinds of music.

Jiawei Hong，2023 UoE MSc student

Jiawei joined Professor Huang’s lab as a master student in 2023. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Zhejiang Sci-Tech University. His undergraduate research focused on determining the correlation between different biological DNA sequences using mathematical models. In his spare time, he enjoys playing basketball and fitness.

Jialong Song, 2023 UoE MSc student

Jialong joined Professor Huang’s lab as a master student in 2023. He studied pharmaceutical preparations as an undergraduate at China Medical University and received a double Bachelor of Science degree from China Medical University and Queen’s University Belfast. During his undergraduate studies, he participated in the study of biocompatibility of a hydrogel biomaterial and the study of the efficacy of Tongluo pills on cerebral apoplexy in mice. In his spare time, he prefers to travel or walk alone.

Xubin Hu, 2023 UoE MSc student

Xubin joined Professor Huang’s lab as a master student in 2023. He obtained his bachelor’s degree from the University of Edinburgh. His research focuses on the MA modification of proteins and the effect of new drug delivery vectors on tumor suppression in living organisms. In his spare time, he likes listening to music.

Tian Xie，2023 UoE MSc student

Tian joined Huang’s lab as a master student in 2023. He received his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Biology from Xiamen University. His undergraduate research focused on the design and sensing potential of nanostructured assemblies of hydrogen-bonding dimerized dyes. In his spare time, he enjoys painting and playing video games.

Undergraduate Students

Bo Yu, 2022 ZJU-UoE undergraduate student

Bo joined Professor Huang’s lab as an undergraduate student at ZJE in 2022. He is currently working with Hang on his scientific research projects. Outside of his research tasks, he enjoys playing basketball and video games.

Youlin Chen, 2022 ZJU-UoE undergraduate student

Youlin joined Professor Huang’s lab as an undergraduate student at ZJE in 2022. He mainly works with Hang in the Human Space X research projects. In his spare time, he enjoys playing Go and drawing.

Alumni

Staff

– 2020: Siqi Zuo (PhD student in Zhejiang University)

Master Students

– 2022: Sicheng Zhou (PhD student in Zhejiang University); Rui Li (Lab manager at Zhejiang University); Junting Lu (PhD student at University of Hong Kong)

– 2023: Li Hu (PhD student at University of Macau); Hongda Wei (PhD student at Tsinghua University); Zijun Zhang (MSc student at ZJE); Ziheng Bai (MSc student at ZJE); Siyu Liu (MSc student at ZJE)

Undergrad Students

– 2023: Boxuan Wu (PhD student at Zhejiang University); Lele Li (PhD student at Zhejiang University); Jingqi Qi (PhD student at University of Washington)

– 2022: Yujie Zhou (MSc student at Zhejiang University); Zijin Wang (PhD student at Zhejiang University); Hao Huang (PhD student at Zhejiang University); Liuyi Wu (MSc student at University of Edinburgh); Yitang Huang (BMS student at ZJE)

– 2021: Dewei Kong (PhD student in National University of Singapore); Yicong Ma (PhD student in Peking University); Yixin Dai (PhD student in Zhejiang University); Youcheng Yang (MSc student at University of California, Los Angeles); Wenyuan Zhu (MSc student at University of Zurich); Zeen Xu (Staff in Zhejiang University)

– 2020: Yiyang Yan (PhD student in Zhejiang University); Qingyuan Xia (PhD student at University of California, Irvine)