Education PhD, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, 2020 BS, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, 2017

Yifan Dai’s research focuses on two distinct aspects: 1) exploring and studying the physical chemistry of biology to understand how chemical functions are encoded in biological soft matter; 2) developing fundamental capabilities for synthetic biology to design smart medicine capable of sensing and responding to cellular states for the improvement of human well-being. The first part of Dai's research studies the chemical features of biological soft matter, such as biomolecular condensates. Dai focuses on establishing function-feature correlations to understand the underlaying physicochemical principles of cellular functions. The second part of his research integrates electrochemistry into synthetic biology. He designs strategies to engineer biological components at different scales (biomolecules, molecular/genetic circuits and cells) capable of sensing and responding to change of local/global electrochemical equilibrium. These efforts will improve our understandings on cellular functioning mechanisms and enable new capabilities to control cellular behaviors.

Yu W, Guo X, Xia Y, Ma Y, Tong Z, Yang L, Song X, Zare RN, Hong G, Dai Y*. Aging-dependent evolving electrochemical potentials of biomolecular condensates regulate their physicochemical activities. Nature Chemistry. 10.1038/s41557-025-01762-7 Lee D, Walls M.T, Siu KH, Dai Y, Xu K, Brangwynne CP, Chilkoti A, Avalos J, You L. Principles of metabolic pathway control by biomolecular condensates in cells. Nature Chemical Engineering. 10.1038/s44286-025-00193-y Chen MW, Ren X, Song X, Qian N, Ma Y, Yu W, Yang L, Min W, Zare RN, and Dai Y*. Transition-State-Dependent Spontaneous Generation of Reactive Oxygen Species by Aβ Assemblies Encodes a Self-Regulated Positive Feedback Loop for Aggregate Formation Journal of the American Chemical Society. 10.1021/jacs.4c15532 Shapiro DM, Deshpande S, Eghtesadi SA, Zhong M, Fontes CM, Fiflis D, Rohm D, Min J, Kaur T, Peng J, Ney M, Su J, Dai Y, Asokan A, Gersbach CA, Chilkoti A. Synthetic biomolecular condensates enhance translation from a target mRNA in living cells. Nature Chemistry. 10.1038/s41557-024-01706-7. Chen, MW, Dai Y*. Selective excitation of bacteria enables growth suppression without antibiotics. Cell. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.11.035. Dai Y*, Wang Z-G, Zare RN. Unlocking the electrochemical functions of biomolecular condensates. Nature Chemical Biology. doi.org/10.1038/s41589-024-01717-y Dai Y, Zhou Z, Yu W, Ma Y, Kim K, Rivera N, Mohammed J, Lantelme E, Hsu-Kim H, Chilkoti A, You L. Biomolecular condensates regulate cellular electrochemical equilibria. Cell. 10.1016/j.cell.2024.08.018 Li Z, Shen Q, Anderson A, Usher E, Iburg M, Lin R, Zimmer B, Meyer M, Holehouse A, You L*, Chilkoti A*, Dai Y*, Lu G*. Phase transition of GvpU regulates gas vesicle clustering in bacteria. Nature Microbiology. doi.org/10.1038/s41564-024-01648-3 Dai Y, Chamberlayne C, Messina M, Chang CJ, Zare RN, You L, Chilkoti A. Interface of biomolecular condensates modulates redox reactions. Chem. 9, 6, 1594-1609. Dai Y, You L, Chilkoti A. Engineering synthetic biomolecular condensates. Nature Reviews Bioengineering. doi.org/10.1038/s44222-023-00052-6 Dai Y, Farag M, Lee D, Zeng X, Kim K, Son HI, Guo X, Su J, Peterson N, Mohammed J, Ney M, Shapiro DM, Pappu RV, Chilkoti A, You L. Programmable Synthetic Biomolecular Condensates for Cellular Control. Nature Chemical Biology. 19, 518-528. Zhang Y, Zhu H, Ying Z, Gao X, Chen W, Zhan Y, Feng L, Liu CC, Dai Y*.Design and Application of Metal Organic Framework ZIF-90-ZnO-MoS2 Nanohybrid for an Integrated Electrochemical Liquid Biopsy. Nano Letters. 22, 16, 6833–6840. Roden CA, Dai Y, Seim I, Lee M, Sealfon R, McLaughlin GA, Boerneke M, Iserman C, Wey SA, Ekena JL, Troyanskaya OG, Weeks KM, You L, Chilkoti A, Gladfelter AS. Double-stranded RNA drives SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein to undergo phase separation at specific temperatures. Nucleic Acids Research. 50, 14, 8168-8192.