My research aims to create cutting-edge biomimetic nanotechnology and exploit them to study and solve complex biological problems that are associated with human diseases. One major research goal is to overcome the various therapeutic barriers in the treatment of cancer and viral infection. I also seek to understand the fundamental sciences at the interface of nanomedicine and biology. Overall, my research program covers a broad scope of multidisciplinary areas including chemistry, materials science, nanotechnology, biotechnology and medicine.

Lang Rao, Shu-Kun Zhao, Churan Wen, Rui Tian, Lisen Lin, Bo Cai, Yue Sun, Fei Kang, Zhen Yang, Liangcan He, Jing Mu, Qian-Fang Meng, Guangyu Yao*, Ni Xie*, & Xiaoyuan Chen*. Activating Macrophage-Mediated Cancer Immunotherapy by Genetically Edited Nanoparticles. Advanced Materials, 2020, 32, 2004853. (Highlighted by MaterialsViews).

Lang Rao#, Lei Wu#, Zhida Liu#, Rui Tian, Guocan Yu, Zijian Zhou, Kuikun Yang, Hong-Gang Xiong, Anli Zhang, Guang-Tao Yu, Wenjing Sun, Han Xu, Jingya Guo, Andrew Li, Hongmin Chen*, Zhi-Jun Sun*, Yang-Xin Fu*, & Xiaoyuan Chen*. Hybrid cellular membrane nanovesicles amplify macrophage immune responses against cancer recurrence and metastasis. Nature Communications, 2020, 11, 4909. (Highly Cited Paper).

Lang Rao#, Shuai Xia#, Wei Xu#, Rui Tian, Guocan Yu, Chenjian Gu, Pan Pan, Qian-Fang Meng, Xia Cai, Di Qu, Lu Lu*, Youhua Xie*, Shibo Jiang*, & Xiaoyuan Chen*. Decoy nanoparticles protect against COVID-19 by concurrently adsorbing viruses and inflammatory cytokines. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), 2020, 117, 27141-27147. (Featured as Cover; Highlighted by The Scientist; ChemistryViews; Inverse; Infosurhoy; Scitech Daily).

Qian-Fang Meng#, Rui Tian#, Haiyi Long, Xianjia Wu, Jialin Lai, Olga Zharkova, Jiong-Wei Wang*, Xiaoyuan Chen*, & Lang Rao*. Capturing Cytokines with Advanced Materials: A Potential Strategy to Tackle COVID-19 Cytokine Storm. Advanced Materials, 2021, 33, 2100012.

Qian-Fang Meng#, Yuyue Zhao#, Chunbo Dong#, Yuanwei Pan, Lujie Liu, Jialin Lai, Zhida Liu, Guang-Tao Yu*, Xiaoyuan Chen*, & Lang Rao*. Genetically Programmable Fusion Cellular Vesicles for Cancer Immunotherapy. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2021, 60, 26320-26326.

Dan Wu#,*, Kuikun Yang#, Zhankui Zhang, Yunxuan Feng, Lang Rao*, Xiaoyuan Chen*, & Guocan Yu*. Metal-free bioorthogonal click chemistry in cancer theranostics. Chemical Society Reviews, 2022, 51, 1336-1376. (Highly Cited Paper). 

Chenchen Zhao, Yuanwei Pan, Guocan Yu*, Xing-Zhong Zhao, Xiaoyuan Chen*, & Lang Rao*. Vesicular Antibodies: Shedding Light on Antibody Therapeutics with Cell Membrane Nanotechnology. Advanced Materials, 2023, 35, 2207875.

Qian-Fang Meng#, Wanbo Tai#, Mingyao Tian#, Xinyu Zhuang#, Yuanwei Pan, Jialin Lai, Yangtao Xu, Zhiqiang Xu, Min Li, Guangyu Zhao, Guang-Tao Yu, Guocan Yu, Rongchang Chen, Ningyi Jin, Xiao Li*, Gong Cheng*, Xiaoyuan Chen*, & Lang Rao*. Inhalation delivery of dexamethasone with iSEND nanoparticles attenuates the COVID-19 cytokine storm in mice and non-human primates. Science Advances, 2023, 9, eadg3277. 

Dan Liu, Shuang Liang, Kongshuo Ma, Qian-Fang Meng, Xingang Li, Jian Wei, Mengli Zhou, Kaiqing Yun, Yuanwei Pan, Lang Rao*, Xiaoyuan Chen*, & Zhaohui Wang*. Tumor Microenvironment-Responsive Nanoparticles Amplifying STING Signaling Pathway for Cancer Immunotherapy. Advanced Materials, 2024, 36, 2304845.

Jialin Lai#, Qi Pan#, Guihao Chen#, Yu Liu, Cheng Chen, Yuanwei Pan, Lujie Liu, Binglin Zeng, Ling Yu, Yunsheng Xu, Jinyao Tang, Yuejin Yang*, & Lang Rao*. Triple Hybrid Cellular Nanovesicles Promote Cardiac Repair after Ischemic Reperfusion. ACS Nano, 2024, 18, 4443-4455. (Featured as Cover).