8/17/2011 Greta Weiderman
Written by Greta Weiderman
Effective Aug. 16, Rohit Bhargava, Yingxiao “Peter” Wang and Sheng Zhong became associate professors in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Illinois.
All three are frequently recognized for their excellence in teaching and research.
Rohit Bhargava has pioneered the development of infrared chemical imaging methods and their biomedical applications. His innovative work is leading to molecular insights that provide for new characterizations of human cancers. For example, combining clinical measurements, 3D tissue engineering and computational models, he seeks to determine whether certain kinds of prostate cells have the potential to cause life-threatening cancer.
Yingxiao “Peter” Wang works on developing genetically-encoded molecule biosensors based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer to detect early cancer development in biopsy samples.
He seeks to integrate bio-nanotechnology, laser-tweezers and live-cell imaging technologies to manipulate the micro-environment and visualize the regulatory signaling cascades in live cell motility and migration.
Sheng Zhong uses computational and experimental approaches to study animal development and evolution.
His long-term goals are to address how gene expression and epigenome evolve and how genetic networks regulate early cell fate decision. He focuses on two biological processes: differentiation of pluripotent stem cells and preimplantation embryonic development.
His lab generates genomic, transcriptomic, epigenomic, protein-DNA interaction and genetic perturbation data, develops probabilistic models and computational algorithms and uses statistical inference and experimental validation to understand gene regulation.