معرفی
Yuan Ma is an Assistant Professor at Rice University's Department of Chemistry, holding the Kenneth S. Pitzer-Schlumberger Junior Faculty Chair and Norman Hackerman-Welch Young Investigator titles. She leads the Ma Lab, focused on developing chemical biology tools for interdisciplinary research in chemistry, biology, and biomedical applications. Her work spans RNA/protein studies, disease biomarkers, and nanomedicine for early detection and therapy.
Education: B.A. in Materials Physics from Nanjing University (2012), Ph.D. in Chemistry from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (co-advised by Professors Deyue Yan, Xinyuan Zhu, and Chuan Zhang), followed by postdoctoral research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Texas at Austin under Professor Yi Lu.
Research Interests: Chemical biology tools for in situ RNA/protein analysis, glycoRNA and epigenetic RNA investigations, RNA/protein disease mechanisms, and disease early detection via biomarkers. The lab’s tools advance both fundamental knowledge and translational science.
Recent achievements include developing ARPLA for glycoRNA spatial imaging, aptamer-based sensors, and targeted cancer therapies. Awards include the Provost Early Career Fellowship and Leading Edge Fellowship. The lab is affiliated with Rice’s Systems, Synthetic, and Physical Biology (SSPB) Graduate Program and the SynthX Center.
Advising: Supervises graduate students (e.g., Haoyue Dong, Yingying Zhu) and postdocs (e.g., Xiangli Shao, Xinmin Zhang). Collaborates on projects like nucleolin aptamer-mediated drug release and stapled aptamers for bone diseases. Active in training future scientists through Rice’s graduate and undergraduate programs.
Labs/Teams: Ma Lab at BioScience Research Collaborative (BRC), emphasizing interdisciplinary collaboration and diversity.
