Research Interest

Our research mainly focuses on the development and application of solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to investigate the structure, dynamics and interactions of insoluble macromolecules in various biological systems such as the energy-rich plant biomass, disease-related fungal cell walls, viral proteins, and phospholipid membranes. The carbohydrate-rich cell walls of plants and fungi are either a central source of bio-renewable energy or a natural target of anti-fungal agents, but their structure is very difficult to study on the atomic-level characterization due to the insolubility, disorder and complexity of wall polymers. The combination of multi-dimensional solid-state NMR and sensitivity-enhancing Dynamic Nuclear Polarization opens the door for high-resolution investigation of these challenging systems in their native state, whole cells. Our studies provide invaluable molecular insights into the structural polymorphism, spatial proximities, site-specific hydration and motions of biomolecules, thus deepen, revise and advance our understanding of the 3D architecture of these complex composites, which may guide the engineering of better crops for higher biofuel yield and the design of next-generation antifungals with improved efficacy.