Guangjun Nie, Ph.D, Professor

CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials & Nanosafety
Director of Project Management & International Collaboration, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology of China (NCNST)
11 Beiyijie, Zhongguancun, Beijing 100190, China 
Tel:86-10-82545529; niegj@nanoctr.cn

Guangjun Nie is a Principal Investigator at National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST), China and an Associate Editor of Nano Letters. He received his B.S. degree from Northeast Normal University in 1996, followed by an M.S. degree from Jilin University in 1999. In 2000, he was a Visiting Scholar of the Institute of Food Research, UK. In 2002, he obtained his PhD degree from the Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. From 2002 to 2008, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, Canada. Currently, he is a Full Professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS). Dr. Nie was a Chief Scientist of the MoST National Basic Research Program from 2012-2016 and will hold this title again from 2018-2022. He has a long standing interest in cancer biology, blood physiology and the pathophysiology of human disorders involving dysregulation of redox balance and metal metabolism. Currently, his main interests are in nanomedicines and the design of biology-inspired materials to overcome the current barriers in tumor therapy. In particular, his group is working toward controlling the chemical properties of multi-functional nanoparticles in order to allow specific targeting and regulation of tumor cells and their microenvironment.

Research Interests: Professor Nie’s research interests include: 1) The targeting and regulation of tumors and their microenvironment by intelligent nanorobots for diagnostic and therapeutic applications, especially in the contexts of pancreatic and liver cancers. 2) The design and synthesis of biological system-inspired, novel biomaterials, with a focus on incorporating functional molecular machineries. 3) Cellular membrane vesicle systems and the roles of exosomes in the biological effects of nanomaterials and drug delivery. 4) The development of novel nanomedicines for the treatment of major human diseases, such as metabolic diseases, neurodegenerative diseases and iron- and redox-related human disorders.

Dr. Nie’s most recent research activity has generated a collection of interdisciplinary works in the fields of nanobiology, nanomedicine and blood physiology, comprising over 138 papers published in Nature Biotechnology, Nature Biomedical Engineering, Nature Communications, Adv Mater, Angew Chem, Adv Funct Mater, Blood, Biomaterials, Br J Haematol, JACS, JBC, Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, Nano Letters and Small. Additionally, he has filed over 40 patents on novel nanomedicines, 22 of which have been granted. Two patents on antitumor drug development have been transferred to a biotechnology firm for pre-clinical investigation.

Professor Nie has supervised more than 40 postgraduates and postdoctoral fellows. Three of them have been appointed as research assistant professors in US and three of them have been appointed as associate or assistant professors in China. He collaborates widely both within China and internationally. He is now is leading a multidisciplinary team comprising over 40 people working toward the development of safer and more effective nanomedicines. He is an Affiliated Professor of Northeast University, Shenyang, China and Northeast Normal University, Changchun. Dr. Nie is also an Affiliated Senior Member of the Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, US, and a Newton Advanced Scholar of the Medical Academy of the UK.

Representative Publications (from 138 publications, since 2001)

138. Suping Li, Qiao Jiang, Shaoli Liu, Yinlong Zhang, Yanhua Tian, Chen Song, Jing Wang, Yiguo Zou, Gregory J Anderson, Jing-Yan Han, Yung Chang, Yan Liu, Chen Zhang, Liang Chen, Guangbiao Zhou, Guangjun Nie*, Hao Yan*, Baoquan Ding* & Yuliang Zhao*, A DNA nanorobot functions as a cancer therapeutic in response to a molecular trigger in vivo, Nature Biotechnology, 2018, 36(3):258-264. (Highlighted by Nature Biotechnology, Nature Reviews Cancer, Science Translational Medicine, Trends in Molecular Medicine, Science China Chemistry, F1000 and over 100 news agencies).

137. Suping Li, Yinlong Zhang, Jing Wang, Ying Zhao, Tianjiao Ji, Xiao Zhao, Yanping Ding, Xiaozheng Zhao, Ruifang Zhao, Feng Li, Xiao Yang, Shaoli Liu, Zhaofei Liu, Jianhao Lai, Andrew K. Whittaker, Gregory J Anderson, Jingyan Wei, Guangjun Nie, Nanoparticle-enabled local depletion of tumor-associated platelets enhances anti-tumor efficacy of chemotherapeutics, Nature Biomedical Engineering, 1, 667–679, 2017 (Highlighted by Nature Biomedical Engineering).

136. Xuexiang Han, Yiye Li, Xiao Zhao, Yinlong Zhang, Xiao Yang, Yongwei Wang, Ying Xu, Ruifang Zhao, Greg J Anderson, Yuliang Zhao, and Guangjun Nie, Reversal of pancreatic desmoplasia by re-educating stellate cells with a tumour microenvironment-activated nanosystem, Nature Commun, 2018, in press

135. Shanshan Guo, Gang Liu, David Frazer, Tianqing Liu, Linhao You, Jiaqi Xu, Yongwei Wang, Gregory J. Anderson* and Guangjun Nie*, DFO in a nanoformulation improves its iron chelator efficacy by enhancing its tissue accumulation and prolonging its half-life, Nano Letters, 2018, in press, doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b02428.

134. Xiao Zhao, Liang Liu, Jiayan Lang, Keman Cheng, Yongwei Wang, Xueyan Li, Jian Shi, Yanli Wang, Guangjun Nie*, A CRISPR-Cas13a system for efficient and specific therapeutic targeting of mutant KRAS for pancreatic cancer treatment, Cancer Letters, 2018, 431:171-181.

133. Keman Cheng, Yanping Ding, Ying Zhao, Shefang Ye, Xiao Zhao, Yinlong Zhang, Tianjiao Ji, Gregory J. Anderson, Lei Ren, Guangjun Nie, Engineering Peptide-Assembly Empowers Effective Co-Inhibition of Programmed Cell Death-Ligand 1 and Idoleamine 2, 3-Dioxygenase for Melanoma Immunotherapy, Nano Letters, 2018, 18:3250-3258

132. Linhao You, Yinlong Zhang, Xuexiang Han, Shanshan Guo, Tianyu Dong, Junchao Xu, Jing Wang, Tianqing Liu, Greg J Anderson, Qiang Liu, Yanzhong Chang and Guangjun Nie, Linhao You, Jing Wang, Tianqing Liu, Yinlong Zhang, Xuexiang Han, Ting Wang, Shanshan Guo, Tianyu Dong, Junchao Xu, Gregory J. Anderson, Qiang Liu, Yan-Zhong Chang, Xin Lou and Guangjun Nie, Targeted Brain Delivery of Rabies Virus Glycoprotein 29-Modified Deferoxamine-Loaded Nanoparticles Reverses Functional De？cits in Parkinsonian Mice, ACS Nano, 2018, 12:4123-4139.

131. Feng Li; Yiye Li; Xiao Yang; Yang Jiao; Huaping Xu, Guangjun Nie, Highly Fluorescent Chiral N-S-Doped Carbon Dots from Cysteine Affect Cellular Energy Metabolism, Angew Chem, 2018, 57:2377-2382.

130. Yi Yuan, Chong Du, Cuiji Sun, Jin Zhu, Shan Wu, Yinlong Zhang, Tianjiao Ji, Jianlin Lei, Yinmo Yang, Ning Gao and Guangjun Nie, Chaperonin-GroEL as a smart hydrophobic drug delivery and tumor targeting molecular machine for tumor therapy, Nano Letters, 2018, 18:921-928.

129. Xiao Zhao, Wei Sun, Hao Qin, Xuexiang Han, Yongwei Wang, Xiuchao Wang, Jiayan Lang, Ruifang Zhao, Jian shi, Jihui Hao, Qing Robert Miao, Guangjun Nie^*, He Ren*, Precision design of nanomedicine to restore gemcitabine chemosensitivity for personalized pancreatic cancer treatment, Biomaterials, 2018, 158:44-55.

128. Bin Wang, Yanping Ding, Xiaozheng Zhao, Na Yang, Yinlong Zhang, Ying Zhao, Xiao Zhao, Mohammad Taleb, Qing Robert Miao, Guangjun Nie, Delivery of Small Interfering RNA against Nogo-B Receptor via Tumor-Acidity Responsive Nanoparticles for Tumor Vessel Normalization and Metastasis Suppression, Biomaterials, 2018, 175:110-122.

127. Ruifang Zhao, Xuexiang Han, Yiye Li, Hai Wang, Tianjiao Ji, Yuliang Zhao Guangun Nie, Photothermal Effect Enhanced Cascade-Targeting Strategy for Improved Pancreatic Cancer Therapy by Gold Nanoshell@Mesoporous Silica Nanorod, ACS Nano, 2017, 11:8103-8113.

126. Tianjiao Ji, Jiayan Lang, Jing Wang, Rong Cai, Yinlong Zhang, Feifei Qi, Xiao Zhao, Jihui Hao, Ying Zhao, Guangjun Nie, Fine-tuned Co-assembly of Peptide-hybrid Liposomes for Site-Specific Regulation of Tumor Stroma for Enhanced Drug Penetration and Pancreatic Tumor Chemotherapy, ACS Nano, 2017, 11:8668-8678.

125. Chao Liu, Jiayi Guo, Fei Tian, Na Yang, Fusheng Yan, Yanping Ding, JingYan Wei, Guoqing Hu, Guangjun Nie, Jiashu Sun, Field-Free Isolation of Exosomes from Extracellular Vesicles by Microfluidic Viscoelastic Flows, ACS Nano, 2017, 11:6968-6976.

124. Xiao Zhao, Xiuchao Wang, Lijun Fang, Chungen Lan, Xiaowei Zheng, Yongwei Wang, Yinlong Zhang, Xuexiang Han, Shaoli Liu, Keman Cheng, Ying Zhao, Jian Shi, Jiayi Guo, Jihui Hao, He Ren, Guangjun Nie, A combinatorial strategy using YAP and pan-RAF inhibitors for treating KRAS-mutant pancreatic cancer, Cancer Letters, 2017, 402, 61-70.

123. Hao Qin, Yanping Ding, Ayeesha Mujeeb and Guangjun Nie, Tumor Microenvironment Targeting and Responsive Peptide-based Nanoformulations for Improved Tumor Therapy, Molecular Pharmacology, 2017, 92:219-231.

122. Yinlong Zhang, Jingyan Wei, Shaoli Liu, Jing Wang, Xuexiang Han, Hao Qin, Jiayan Lang, Keman Cheng, Yiye Li, Greg J Anderson, Saraswati Sukumar, Suping Li, Guangjun Nie, Inhibition of platelet function using liposomal nanoparticles blocks tumor metastasis, Theranostics, 2017, 7:1062-1071,.

121. Yanping Ding, Shishuai Su, Ruirui Zhang, Leihou Shao, Yiye Li, Yan Wu*, Guangjun Nie*, Precision Combination Therapy for Triple Negative Breast Cancer via Biomimetic Polydopamine Polymer Core-Shell Nanostructures, Biomaterials, 2017, 113:243-252.