Biography
Dr. Chong Fang is currently Professor of Chemistry at Oregon State University. Dr. Fang earned his Ph.D. (2006) from the late Prof. Robin Hochstrasser at UPenn focusing on 2D-IR studies of biomolecules from helices to drug-enzyme complexes in aqueous solution (a PNAS Cover in 2007), and performed his postdoctoral research with Prof. Richard Mathies at UC Berkeley (2007-2010) on the wild-type GFP fluorescence mechanism (a Nature Cover in 2009). Earlier, Dr. Fang obtained dual B.S. in Chemical Physics and Applied Computer Science from USTC (1996-2001), where he received the Guo Moruo Scholarship in 2000. Since 2010, the Fang Group at Oregon State has developed state-of-the-art ultrafast spectroscopic toolsets including tunable femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy (FSRS) and broadband up-converted multicolor array (BUMA) to capture “molecular movies” and elucidated the structure-function relationships of molecular systems ranging from biosensors, photoacids to metal-organic complexes (a JPCL Cover in 2018 and an Annu. Rev. Phys. Chem. article in 2020). His research has been featured in Imaging & Microscopy (Germany), The Analytical Scientist and Research Features (UK), ScienceDaily, Phys.org, Medical News Today, Modern Metals, and KMTR TV (USA), to name a few. Notable accolades include the NSF CAREER Award (2015-2021), the inaugural 2015 Robin Hochstrasser International Young Investigator Award (Elsevier and Chemical Physics), the 2016 OSU Promising Scholar Award and Milton Harris Faculty Teaching Award, the 2019 OSU Impact Award for Outstanding Scholarship, and the 2021 College of Science Milton Harris Award in Basic Research.
Research
The central theme of Dr. Fang's research is to investigate the structure-function relationships of biomolecules and novel materials, ranging from fluorescent proteins and ion sensors which can light up subcellular entities for bioimaging, proteins and enzymes that are potential targets for biomedicine, to nanoclusters and metal-organic complexes in solution. The interplay between chemistry, physics, and biology greatly facilitates ultrafast spectroscopic advances in the molecular vibration domain, which include FSRS (femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy) and 2D IR (two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy). The real-time structural snapshots of molecules "in action" offer unprecedented mechanistic insights on the intrinsic molecular timescales (10 fs - 1 ps) critical for their specific functions. In particular, photoswitchable and calcium-sensing fluorescent proteins have been studied by FSRS to reveal the atomic choreography of the "flexible" chromophore inside the protein pocket upon photoexcitation and ion binding. Functional motions of photoacids and other photosensitive materials during chemical reactions in condensed phase have also been elucidated.
Research Interests
- Physical Chemistry
- Materials Chemistry
- Bioanalytical Chemistry
