ACS CARB David Y. Gin New Investigator Award, 2024 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, 2023 NSF CAREER Award 2020 NIH Director's New Innovator Award 2019 Beckman Young Investigator Award 2019 Thieme Chemistry Journals Award 2019

Understanding complex biological systems and developing new tools to engineer them have been a central focus for both chemistry and biology. One of the main goals of our research program is to develop biomimetic synthetic molecules for the investigation and regulation of key biochemical processes taking place on the surface of and within a cellular system. In addition, we are also interested in developing next-generation sustainable materials to address the global environmental crisis caused by the widespread use of petroleum-based plastics. The research of our lab will adopt an interdisciplinary approach that spans organic chemistry, polymer sciences, bioconjugation, molecular evolution, and synthetic biology. In particular, we will focus on three research directions: (1) the development of sustainable polymers from renewable feedstocks, which are readily degradable, stimuli-responsive, or amenable to a circular economy life cycle; (2) the design and synthesis of glycomimetic synthetic polymers with unique architectures for the engineering of cell surface glycome; (3) the development of RNA-based synthetic biology tools for gene expression regulation using molecular evolution approaches.

Zhou Z.; Pham Q.; Giardino G.J.; Chatterjee A.; Niu J.* "3,6-Anhydrogalactal as a Single-Addition Monomer for Chain-End Functionalization of Metathesis Polymers" JACS ASAP 2025. Giardino G.J.; Niu J.* "Metathesis Depolymerization of a Fluorogenic Self-Immolative Polymer" ACS Macro Lett. 2025, 14, 558−563. Su-Tobon Q.; Fan J.; Goldstein M.; Feeney K.; Ren H.; Autissier P.; Wang P.; Huang Y.; Mohanty U.; Niu J.* "CRISPR-Hybrid: A CRISPR-Mediated Intracellular Directed Evolution Platform for RNA Aptamers." Nat. Commun. 2025, 16 (1), 595. Thompson, W. J.; Kankanamalage, B. K. P. M.; Thaggard, G. C.; Park, K. C.; Martin, C. R.; Niu, J.; Byers, J. A.*; Shustova, N. B. * "Catalytically Active Site Mapping Realized through Energy Transfer Modeling." Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2024, e202416695. Rondon, B.#; Ungolan, P.#; Wu, L.; Niu, J.* "Chemically Recyclable Pseudo-Polysaccharides from Living Ring-Opening Polymerization of Glucurono-1,6-lactones." J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 146, 21868-21876. Park, K.S.; Cha, H.; Niu, J.; Soh, H.T.; Lee, J.H.; Pack, S.P.* "DNA-controlled Protein Fluorescence: Design of aptamer-split peptide hetero-modulator for GFP to respond to intracellular ATP level." Nucleic Acids Res. 2024, gkae532. Giardino, G.; Wang, H.; Niu, J.*; Wang, D.* “From Technical Lignin to Native Lignin: Depolymerization, Functionalization, and Applications.” (Minireview) Chem. Phys. Rev. 2024, 5, 021302. Featured by Scilight. Wu, L.#; Chowdhury, A.#; Zhou, Z.; Chen, K.; Wang, W.; Niu, J.* “Precision Cellulose from Living Cationic Polymerization of Glucose 1,2,4-Orthopivalates.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 146, 7963-7970. Jiang, N.-C.; Zhou, Z.; Niu, J.* “Quantitative, Regiospecific, and Stereoselective Radical Ring-Opening Polymerization of Monosaccharide Cyclic Ketene Acetals.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 146, 5056-5062. Li, F.; Li, E.; Samanta, K.; Zheng, Z.; Wu, L.; Chen. A. D.; Farha, O.; Staples, R.; Niu, J.*; Schmidt-Rohr, K.*; Ke, C.* “Ortho-Alkoxy-benzamide Directed Formation of a Single Crystalline Hydrogen-bonded Crosslinked Organic Framework and Its Boron Trifluoride Uptake and Catalysis.” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2023, 62, e2023116. Liu, C.; Liu, X.; Zhou, M.; Xia, C.; Lyu, Y.; Peng, Q.; Soni, C.; Zhou, Z.; Su, Q.; Wu, Y.; Weerapana, E.; Gao, J.; Chatterjee, A.; Lin, C.; Niu, J.* "Fluorosulfate as a Latent Sulfate in Peptides and Proteins" J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023, 145, 20189-20195. Wu, L.; Rondon, B.; Dym, S.; Wang, W.; Chen, K.; Niu, J.* “Regulating Cationic Polymerization: From Structural Control to Life Cycle Management.” (Review) Prog. Polym. Sci. 2023, 145, 101736. Wu, L.; Zhou, Z.; Sathe, D.; Zhou, J.; Reich, S.; Zhao, Z.; Wang, J.; Niu, J.* “Precision Native Polysaccharides from Living Polymerization of Anhydrosugars.” Nat. Chem. 2023, 15, 1276-1284. Landrigan, P.J.; Raps, H.; Cropper, M.; Bald, C.; Brunner, M., Canonizado, E.M.; Charles, D.; Chiles, T.C.; Donohue, M.J.; Enck, J.; Fenichel, P.; Fleming, L.E.; Ferrier-Pages, C.; Fordham, R.; Gozt, A.; Griffin, C.; Hahn, M.E.; Haryanto, B.; Hixson, R.; Ianelli, H.; James, B.D.; Kumar, P.; Laborde, A.; Law, K.L.; Martin, K.; Mu, J.; Mulders, Y.; Mustapha, A.; Niu, J.; Pahl, S.; Park, Y.; Pedrotti, M.-L.; Pitt, J.A.; Ruchirawat, M.; Seewoo, B.J.; Spring, M.; Stegeman, J.J.; Suk, W.; Symeonides, C.; Takada, H.; Thompson, R.C.; Vicini, A.; Wang, Z.; Whitman, E.; Wirth, D.; Wolff, M.; Yousuf, A.K.; Dunlop, S. "The Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health." Ann. Glob. Health. 2023; 89, 23, 1–215. Yang, C.#; Deng, Y.#; Wang, Y.; Liu, C.; Xia, C.; Booneimsri, P.; Lertmaneedang, C.; Samal, A.; Mehta, A. Y.; Baker, K. J.; Hwang, S.; Flynn, J. P.; Cao, M.; Zhu, A. C.; Cummings, R. D.; Lin, C.; Mohanty, U.*; Niu, J.* “Heparan Sulfate Glycomimetics via Iterative Assembly of ‘Clickable’ Disaccharides.” Chem. Sci. 2023, 14, 3514-3522. Wang W.; Rondon, B.; Wang, Z.; Wang, J.; Niu, J.* "Macrocyclic Allylic Sulfone as A Universal Comonomer in Organocatalyzed Photocontrolled Radical Copolymerization with Vinyl Monomers.” Macromolecules 2023, 56, 2052-2061. Wang, H.#; Giardino, G.#; Chen, R.; Yang, C.; Niu, J.*; Wang, D.* “Photocatalytic Depolymerization of Native Lignin Toward Chemically Recyclable Polymer Networks" ACS Cent. Sci. 2023, 9, 48-55. Wu. B. K.; Skrodzki, C. J. A.; Su, Q.; Lin, J.; Niu, J.* “Click Handle”-Modified 2'-Deoxy-2'-Fluoroarabino Nucleic Acid as A Synthetic Genetic Polymer Capable of Post-Polymerization Functionalization." Chem. Sci. 2022, 13, 6873-6881. Wang, W.; Zhou, Z.; Sathe, D.; Tang, X.; Moran, S.; Jin, J.; Haeffner, F.; Wang, J.; Niu, J.* “Degradable Vinyl Random Copolymers via Photocontrolled Radical Ring-Opening Cascade Copolymerization.” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022, e202113302. Yang, C.; Niu, J.* “Just A Click Away.” (News and Views) Nat. Chem. 2021, 13, 820-821. Yuan, J.; Giardino, G.; Niu, J.* “Metathesis Cascade-Triggered Depolymerization of Enyne Self-Immolative Polymers.” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 24800-24805. Featured as a Very Important Paper and on the Fronstipiece. Cheng, C.; Zhou, M.; Su, Q.; Steigmeyer, A.; Niu, J.* “Genome Editor-Directed in vivo Library Diversification.” (Review) Cell Chem. Biol. 2021, 28, 1109-1118. Su, Q.; Zhou, M.; Cheng, C.; Niu, J.* "Harnessing the Power of Directed Evolution to Improve Genome Editing Systems." (Review) Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 2021, 64, 10-19. Yang, C.; Wu, K.; Deng, Y.; Yuan, J.; Niu, J.* "Geared Toward Applications: A Perspective on Functional Sequence-Controlled Polymers." (Viewpoint) ACS Macro Lett. 2021, 10, 243-257. Featured as Front Cover. Chen, R.#; Yang, C.#; Zhou, Z.; Haeffner, F.; Dersjant, A.; Dulock, N.; Dong, Q.; He, D.; Jin, J.; Zhao, Y.; Niu, J.*; Wang, D.* "Electrochemically Triggered Chain Reactions for the Conversion of Furan Derivatives." Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 7534-7539. Featured as Hot Paper and Frontispiece. Liu, C.#; Yang, C.#; Hwang, S.; Ferraro, L. S.; Flynn, P. J.; Niu, J.* “A General Approach to O-Sulfation via Sulfur(VI) Fluoride Exchange Reaction.” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2020, 59, 18435-18441. # equal contribution Yuan, J.; Wang, W.; Zhou, Z.; Niu, J.* "Cascade Reactions in Chain-Growth Polymerization" (Perspective) Macromolecules 2020, 53, 5655-5673. Featured as Front Cover. Gordon, C. K. L.; Wu, D.; Feagin, T. A.; Pusuluri, A.; Csordas, A. T.; Eisenstein, M.; Hawker, C. J.; Niu, J.*; Soh, H. T.* “Click-Particle Display for Base-Modified Aptamer Discovery” ACS Chem. Biol. 2019, 14, 2652-2662. Featured in ACS Editor's Choice. (A previous version of this article was published as a bioRxiv preprint, doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/626572.) Huang, H.; Wang, W.; Zhou, Z.; Sun, B.; An, M.; Haeffner, F.; Niu, J.* "Radical Ring-Closing/Ring-Opening Cascade Polymerization." J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2019, 141, 12493 - 12497. Yang, C.; Flynn, J.; Niu, J.* “Facile Synthesis of Sequence-Regulated Polymers Using Orthogonal SuFEx and CuAAC Click Reactions.” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2018, 57, 16194-16199. Highlighted by Synfacts 2019, 15, 0034.