Mingxu You

Mingxu You

Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry

B.S., 2008, Peking University;
Ph.D., 2012, University of Florida;
Postdoc, 2014-2016, Weill Medical College, Cornell University

Research Interests

Nucleic acids have been chosen as the chemical building blocks in the evolution of life. Inspired by Nature, DNA/RNA nanotechnology emerges to allow precise spatial organization and dynamic control of information networks. My research group is interested in creating synthetic DNA- and RNA-based tools for analytical and biomedical applications. Our ultimate goal is to understand the fundamentals of life, and to construct artificial genetic devices and pathways. We have four primary research focuses:

Discover novel molecular mechanisms for precise conditional self-assembly of nucleic acid nanostructures.

Systematically evolve functional aptamers and ribozymes based on high-throughput approaches.

Construct RNA circuits and dynamic devices for intracellular imaging of RNAs and metabolites.

Develop photo-switchable tools for gene expression control, cancer diagnosis and targeted therapy.