Chemistry Department Faculty
Jia Niu
Associate Professor of Chemistry
Jia Niu
Ph.D.
Contact
Merkert Center 214B
Telephone: 617-552-3616
Email: jia.niu@bc.edu
ORCID 0000-0002-5622-6362
Education
- Ph.D., Harvard University
Research
Understanding complex biological systems and developing new tools to engineer them have been a central focus for both chemistry and biology. One of the main goals of our research program is to develop biomimetic synthetic molecules for the investigation and regulation of key biochemical processes taking place on the surface of and within a cellular system. In addition, we are also interested in developing next-generation sustainable materials to address the global environmental crisis caused by the widespread use of petroleum-based plastics. The research of our lab will adopt an interdisciplinary approach that spans organic chemistry, polymer sciences, bioconjugation, molecular evolution, and synthetic biology. In particular, we will focus on three research directions: (1) the development of sustainable polymers from renewable feedstocks, which are readily degradable, stimuli-responsive, or amenable to a circular economy life cycle; (2) the design and synthesis of glycomimetic synthetic polymers with unique architectures for the engineering of cell surface glycome; (3) the development of RNA-based synthetic biology tools for gene expression regulation using molecular evolution approaches.
Selected Honors and Awards
- ACS CARB David Y. Gin New Investigator Award, 2024
- Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, 2023
- NSF CAREER Award 2020
- NIH Director's New Innovator Award 2019
- Beckman Young Investigator Award 2019
- Thieme Chemistry Journals Award 2019
Representative Key Publications
- Liu, C.; Liu, X.; Zhou, M.; Xia, C.; Soni, C.; Zhou, Z.; Wu, Y.; Chatterjee, A.; Lin, C.; Niu, J.* "Fluorosulfate as a Latent Sulfate in Peptides and Proteins.” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023, 145, 20189-20195.
- Wu, L.; Zhou, Z.; Sathe, D.; Zhou, J.; Reich, S.; Zhao, Z.; Wang, J.; Niu, J.* "Precision Native Polysaccharides from Living Polymerization of Anhydrosugars.” Nat. Chem. 2023, 15, 1276-1284.
- Wu, K. B.; Skrodzki, C. J. A.; Su, Q.; Lin, J.; Niu, J.* "'Click Handle'-Modified 2'-Deoxy-2'-Fluoroarabino Nucleic Acid as A Synthetic Genetic Polymer Capable of Post-Polymerization Functionalization.” Chem. Sci. 2022, 13, 6873-6881.
- Wang, W.; Zhou, Z.; Sathe, D.; Tang, X.; Moran, S.; Jin, J.; Haeffner, F.; Wang, J.; Niu, J.* "Degradable Vinyl Random Copolymers via Photocontrolled Radical Ring-Opening Cascade Copolymerization.” Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022, 61, e202113302.
- Huang, H.; Sun, B.; Huang, Y.; Niu, J.* "Radical Cascade-Triggered Controlled Ring-Opening Polymerization of Macrocyclic Monomers." J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2018, 140, 10402-10406.