Welcome to the Yang Lab web page. Our lab is located in the Department of Biomedical Engineering on VCU's Monroe Park Campus. Our work crosses multiple disciplinary areas including  engineering, materials science, and medicine. The capability of our lab is to design and synthesize  novel biologically active polymers  for broad biomedical and pharmaceutical applications including drug/gene delivery, controlled drug release, and tissue regeneration.  The focus  is on the analysis and understanding of structure-function-property relationship of biomaterials in biology  context.

One of our research thrusts is to engineer dendrimers, i.e., polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers, to create nanostructured materials of various functionalities depending on specific applications. Dendrimers  have a highly branched, three-dimensional architecture with very low polydispersity and high functionality, and play an important role in the emerging filed of nanotechnology. Dendrimer-based targeted drug delivery, nanomedicine, nanobiosensor, nanodiagnostics, and surface nanopatterning are under development in our lab. 

Our lab provides a platform for  undergraduate and graduate students at VCU to conduct  innovative biomaterials and drug delivery research, and increase knowledge and experience in the emerging scientific area of nanobiotechnology while also reaching out to high school students in the Greater Richmond Area. Our interdisciplinary research program serves students having background in biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, chemistry, materials science, polymer, biology, and life science. Summer students from or outside VCU can join the lab through VCU Bioinformatics and Bioengineering Summer Institute (BBSI) or HHMI Summer Scholars Program for Undergraduate Biologists.