Research group: Functional Materials for Medicine
Functional Materials have played more and more critical role in development of novel treatment methods for different diseases. Our group focus on designing all kinds of functional materials, at different scales, to solve clinical and biological problems. We have broad collaborations with hospitals, and most of our projects have clinical doctors involved and initial from a real-life clinical question. Our group is multidisciplinary, which interplay between physics, materials science, synthetic organic chemistry, engineering, biology and medicine. We aim that many of our designs could be clinical applicable in future, and to have a great social impact in treating diseases.
Contact: hongbo.zhang@abo.fi
Master Students
Sonja Troberg is a Master´s student, she graduated with as Bachelor of Pharmacy from Åbo Akademi University in 2020 and has studied chemistry between graduation and Master´s studies. She will write her Master´s thesis about synthesizing and characterizing nanoparticles for siRNA swarms for knocking down the UL29 gene in Herpes Simplex Virus type 1.
Yuanqiang Li received his bachelor's degree in Biotechnology from Jilin Agricultural University. Currently, he is conducting experimental works in Hongbo's group at Åbo Akademi University. His research focuses on the application of DNA functional nanomaterials in medicine.
Jouni graduated from the University of Helsinki, with master’s Thesis on the Synthesis and detection of Cholesterol Sulphate Potassium salts. He has also done research on glycoalkaloids and fluoroquinolones. Currently he is doing master’s thesis in Pharmacy on validation and optimization of the DNAzyme catalyzed DNA hydrolysis in Professor Hongbo Zhang’s group in Åbo Akademi University.
Others
Deependra Yadav received his master’s degree in molecular systems biology from the University of Turku. Currently, as a joint student, he performs some experimental works in Hongbo's group at Åbo Akademi University. His research mainly focuses on developing and optimizing a microfluidic platform for fabricating lignin Nanoparticles.
Xiaochao Ma received his master’s degree in clinical medicine from the University of Jilin. Currently, as a joint student, he performs some experimental works in Hongbo's group at Åbo Akademi University. His main research direction is the application of nanomaterials in the field of medical surgery.
Joni graduated from the University of Turku, with a bachelor's thesis focused on metals as a problem for fish, and with a master's thesis working on the study of transgenerational effects of combined crude oil exposure and heat shock on Daphnia magna. He started work as a research assistant in Prof. Hongbo Zhang's group in Pharmacy, Faculty of Science and Engineering at Åbo Akademi University and his work is focused on Business Finland-funded research on mitochondria.
Cagla Celik received her bachelor's degree in Pharmacy Faculty and PhD degree in analytical chemistry from Erciyes University (Kayseri, Turkey). The field of her scientific research is development of nano-biosensors. She focus on bacterial diagnostic sensors for rapid detection of infectious diseases. At the invitation of Professor Hongbo Zhang, she came as a visiting researcher at the Pharmaceutical Science Laboratory, Åbo Academy University, where, observe microfluidic chip design and use of them biomedical applications.
Seyma Dadi received her PhD degree in Analytical Chemistry from Erciyes University in Turkey in the research field of organic-inorganic hybrid nanomaterials. Her research focuses on enzyme immobilization, enzyme-like activity of nanomaterials and colorimetric biosensors. At the invitation of Professor Hongbo Zhang, she came as a visiting researcher at the Pharmaceutical Sciences Laboratory at Åbo Akademi University to observe microfluidic chip design and microgel production.