Principal Investigator and Professor of Chemistry

Office: Chem Bldg 545

2003-2007 B.S.         Nanjing University, CN                              Supervisor: Prof. Jianwei Zhao

2007-2010 M.S.        Xiamen Univerisity, CN                              Supervisor: Prof. Yun-Bao Jiang

2010-2015 Ph.D.       Emory University, US                                 Supervisor: Prof. Vincent P. Conticello

2016-2019 Postdoc  University of California, Berkeley, US         Supervisor: Prof. Ting Xu

Tao grew up in Huaian, Jiangsu province, China. When he studied chemistry in high school, he knew he had found his career. Tao learned chemistry in Nanjing and studied the genetic engineering of green fluorescent proteins and analysis chemistry from Prof. Yun-Bao Jiang in Xiamen. He traveled to Atlanta and spent five years in exploring the chemical space of collagen-mimetic peptides for two-dimensional peptide self-assembly with Prof. Vincent P. Conticello. With his fresh Ph.D. training and newly established family, Tao moved to Berkely, where he started a brand-new exploration in the design of transmembrane proton channel protein-like random heteropolymers with Prof. Ting Xu. Now in Xiamen, Tao's independent research focus on the design of peptide assemblies/condenstates with programmable molecular composition, overal shape and dynamics. With his team, they aim to exploit dynamic and responsive molecular assembly to advance the recognition, recording, and manipulation of molecular events at biointerfaces.