Dr. Gang Ruan
Postdoctoral Fellow

E-mail: ruan.12@osu.edu
Hometown: Changsha, China

Postdoc, Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA, 2003-2007
Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, the National University of Singapore, Singapore, 2003
M.S., Chemical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China, 1999
B.S., Chemical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, China, 1996

Dr. Gang Ruan is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Departments of Chemical and Biomolecular and Biomedical Engineering at the Ohio State University. Dr. Ruan’s research has been in the areas of bioengineering and nanotechnology. Dr. Ruan’s undergraduate research project was a theoretical study of transient mass transfer (with Dr. Renqiu Jiang, Harbin Engineering University, China). Dr. Ruan’s master thesis research (with Dr. Yaquan Wang, Tianjin University, China) involved developing poly (amino acids) for enhancing the growth of crops. His PhD research (with Drs. Sishen Feng and Qiutian Li, the National University of Singapore, Singapore) examined polymeric and lipid micro/nanoparticles for controlled release, and created a novel drug delivery device based on the combination of polymer and lipid-based systems. His postdoctoral research (with Dr. Shuming Nie, GaTech and Emory, USA) investigated the intracellular transport of semiconductor nanocrystals (quantum dots) and developed the technique for intracellular targeting of quantum dots. Dr. Ruan’s extensive publications on bioengineering and nanotechnology include peer-reviewed journal articles, invited reviews, invited talks and poster presentations.

A decade after the pioneering works of Nie and Alivisatos to apply nanomaterials for biological applications (leading to the field bionanotechnology), the focus of bionanotechnology is shifting from the optimization of nanomaterial synthesis to addressing the issues arising from the applications of nanomaterials in living systems. Dr. Ruans current work is based on the following research thrusts: (1) assembling nanostructures with multifunctionality; (2) understanding the interactions of nanomaterials with biological environments; (3) exploring the applications of nanomaterials in those biological systems that have been seldom probed by nanotechnology previously, such as the interior of living cells; (4) applying nanotechnology to tackle specific diseases, such as neurological diseases.