Dr. Mingxu You – YOU Research Group – Nucleic Acid Chemistry and Engineering

Dr. Mingxu You is the principal investigator of the lab. He joined the University of Massachusetts at Amherst as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry in September 2016, and promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in June 2022. He is now also a faculty member of Institute for Applied Life Sciences, Chemistry-Biology Interface Program, Molecular & Cellular Biology Graduate Program, Center for Biological Physics, Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences, and Center for Autonomous Materials at UMass.

Mingxu grew up in Heilongjiang, China. He received his B.S. degree in Chemistry from Peking University in 2008, and his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from the University of Florida in 2012. During his doctoral study under the direction of Prof. Weihong Tan, Mingxu focused on developing DNA-based devices for cancer diagnosis, targeted drug delivery, and cell membrane biophysical studies. Prior to join UMass, he pursued his postdoctoral research with Prof. Samie R. Jaffrey at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, interested in developing RNA-based fluorescent sensors for imaging metabolites and signaling molecules in live cells.

Dr. You has co-authored over 90 journal articles and 5 book chapters. Most of his work has been published in top journals including Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Chemistry, Nature Chemical Biology, PNAS, JACS, Angewandte Chemie, Nucleic Acids Res, Nano Lett, ACS Nano, Anal Chem, and Chem Sci. His work has been highly recognized with >7,000 citations. In addition, he has given ~40 invited seminars in top universities and research institutes in the U.S. and China.

Office: 867 LGRT, University of Massachusetts, 710 N. Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003; Email: mingxuyou@chem.umass.edu

Awards

2025 Chemical Society Reviews, Pioneering Investigator
2025 Chemical Science, Leading Investigator
2024 Outstanding Research Award, College of Natural Sciences at UMass Amherst
2020–2024 Stanford’s List of World’s Top 2% Scientists
2022 Mahoney Life Science Prize, Finalist
2022 Materials Chemistry Frontiers, Emerging Investigator
2021 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award
2021 Burlew Award, Connecticut Valley Section – American Chemical Society
2021 Nanoscale, Emerging Investigator
2021 ChemComm, Emerging Investigator
2020 Vebleo Fellow Award
2020 Frontiers in Chemistry, Rising Star
2019 NIH Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA)
2019 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow
2019 NSF CAREER Award
2019 Analytical Methods, Emerging Investigator
2019 Supramolecular Chemistry, Emerging Supramolecular Chemist in North America
2013 Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Students Abroad
2012 Eastman Chemical Company Analytical Chemistry Fellowship
2012 Procter & Gamble Research Excellence Award
2012 ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry Graduate Fellowship, Honorable Mention
2011 Bates & Laitinen Graduate Fellowship, University of Florida
2011 Crow Award for Excellence in Scientific Publication, University of Florida
2011 Oral Presentation Award, NanoFlorida 2011 Symposium, Miami, FL
2010 Crow Award for Excellence in Scientific Publication, University of Florida
2007 Guanghua Scholarship for Excellent Undergraduates, Peking University