Yi Lu

Yi Lu is the Richard J. V. Johnson – Welch Regents Chair in Chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin, Department of Chemistry. His research spans biosynthetic inorganic chemistry, biocatalysis, bioanalytical chemistry, DNA nanotechnology, and gene editing. He holds affiliations with the Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Graduate Program, Livestrong Cancer Institutes at UT Dell Medical School, Texas Materials Institute, and John Ring LaMontagne Center for Infectious Disease.

Education: Postdoc (Caltech, 1992-1994), PhD (UCLA, 1992), B.S. (Peking University, 1986). Research focuses on biocatalytic enzyme design, metal ion sensing, DNA nanotechnology for drug delivery, and CRISPR-based diagnostics. Recent work includes glycoRNA imaging in cancer detection and lithium accumulation studies in bipolar disorder.

Notable awards include the Allen Distinguished Investigator (2022), NAI Fellow (2021), and multiple early-career awards from HHMI, Camille Dreyfus, and NSF. His lab’s innovations include DNAzyme-based sensors and engineered metalloenzymes for sustainable chemistry and therapeutics. Current projects address ferroptosis mechanisms in cancer therapy (CPRIT-funded) and CRISPR-Cas12a diagnostics.