Department of Biomedical Engineering
City University of Hong Kong
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Prof. ZHANG, Yong

Prof. ZHANG, Yong

Head and Chair Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Fellow, Singapore Academy of Engineering (SAEng), 新加坡工程院
Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), 美国医学与生物工程院
Fellow, International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering (IAMBE), 国际医学与生物工程科学院
Fellow, European Academy of Sciences and Arts, 欧洲科学与艺术院
Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 电气与电子工程师协会
Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), 皇家化学学会

Research Interest

  • Nanomaterials & Smart Materials
  • Digital Nanomedicine
  • Optogenetics & Phototherapy
  • Optogenetics
  • Microfluidic Devices
  • Wearable & Implantable Devices

Phone: +852 3442-6774
Email: bmehead@cityu.edu.hk
Personal Email: yozhang@cityu.edu.hk
Address: YEUNG-P7708
Web: https://www.yongzhanglab.com

Prof. Yong Zhang is currently a Chair Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Head of Department of Biomedical Engineering at City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK). Before he joined CityUHK, he had over 20 years of working experience in Department of Biomedical Engineering at National University of Singapore (NUS). He joined NUS as an Assistant Professor in 2002 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2007, to Professor in 2013, and to Provost’s Chair Professor in 2017. He developed new technology for point-of-care diagnostics, photodynamic therapy, and optogenetics based on smart nanomaterials and wearable/implantable devices. His publications in top-tier journals (Nature Medicine, Nature Biomedical Engineering, Nature Communications, PNAS, Advanced Materials, etc.), many plenary/keynote/invited talks in international conferences, his contribution to academic communities and professional societies, and his effort in technology translation/commercialization, made him an internationally recognized researcher. His research achievements have been featured in magazines and news media, such as Nature, The Straits Times, and Lianhe Zaobao. He has received many awards, such as Global STEM Professorship (Hong Kong), Humboldt Research Award (Germany), and IES Prestigious Engineering Achievement Award (Singapore). He is a Fellow of Singapore Academy of Engineering (FSAEng), International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering (IAMBE), American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), European Academy of Sciences and Arts, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC). He is also named as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics and listed on World’s Top 2% Scientists by Stanford University and Elsevier BV.

ORCID: 0000-0002-1303-0458
Scopus Author ID: 55989023000
ResearcherID: F-2803-2010
Google Scholar Profile: rJRN4_8AAAAJ

Metrics for Academic and Research Impact

  • Microchimica Acta, Senior Associate Editor
  • Journal of Nanobiotechnology, Associate Editor
  • Chemical Society Reviews, Advisory Board Member
  • Bioconjugate Chemistry, Advisory Board member

  • Fellow, Singapore Academy of Engineering (FSAEng)
  • Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE)
  • Fellow, International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering (IAMBE)
  • Fellow, European Academy of Sciences and Arts
  • Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
  • Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
  • Global Highly Cited Researcher (Clarivate Analytics)
  • World’s Top 2% Scientists (Stanford University and Elsevier BV)
  • Global STEM Professorship (Hong Kong)
  • Humboldt Research Award (Germany)
  • IES Prestigious Engineering Achievement Awards, Institute of Engineers Singapore (IES, Singapore)
  • Springer Nature Editor of Distinction Awards
  • DAAD Scholarship, Germany
  • NML Researcher Award
  • Provost’s Chair Professorship, NUS
  • Young Investigator Award, NUS
  • Faculty Research Award, Faculty of Engineering, NUS
  • Erwin Schrodinger Society Poster Award (1st Prize)
  • Tan Kah Kee Young Inventors' Award
  • Outstanding Mentor Award, Science Mentorship Program, Gifted Education Branch, Singapore Ministry of Education
  • Joint Institute for Nanoscience (JIN) fellowship, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory/University of Washington, USA

  • Rechargeable Light Delivery Device for Wireless Optogenetics Interrogation in Ageing Brain, 09/2022-09/2027, NMRC, Singapore
  • Combined proton beam therapy and proton beam triggered photodynamic therapy for cancer treatment, 08/2021-08/2025, NMRC, Singapore
  • Self-propelling upconversion Janus nanoparticles for overcoming light and diffusion limited penetration of drugs in solid tumors, 08/2018-08/2021, NMRC, Singapore
  • Remote-controlled Photo-therapy with Small-Scale Wireless Bioelectronics, 05/2017-05/2022, MOE Tier-3 program, Singapore
  • Near-infrared-to-ultraviolet photon upconversion for highly penetrating photodynamic therapy of solid and deep-seated cancers, 07/2014-07/2017, NMRC, Singapore
  • Versatile core-shell-shell fluorescent upconversion nanoparticles for light-based detection and disease diagnostics, 08/2012-08/2013, NRF, Singapore
  • Use of novel upconversion technique for photodynamic therapy of cancer in deep tissues, 06/2011-05/2013, A*STAR SERC, Singapore
  • A culture-free and PCR-free technique for rapid detection of bacteria from pathological samples, 06/2011-12/2012, A*STAR SERC, Singapore
  • Rational design of Plasmon-engineered upconversion fluorescent nanomaterials for enhanced imaging and light-triggered bimodal therapy of cancer, 04/2011-03/2014, A*STAR BMRC, Singapore
  • Photoactivable gene silencing using upconverting fluorescent nanoparticles for treatment of malignant melanoma, 06/2010-06/2012, NMRC, Singapore
  • Assessing trafficking and tissue distribution of live and subunit vaccines against mycobacterium tuberculosis by dynamic, in vivo fluorescence imaging using ultrafine upconversion fluorescent nanoparticles, 03/2009-02/2012, A*STAR SBIC, Singapore
  • Use of NIR-to-visible upconversion fluorescent nanoparticles for synergistic non-invasive imaging and photodynamic therapy of cancer in deep tissues, 01/2008-12/2010, A*STAR BMRC, Singapore
  • Real time noninvasive imaging of skeletal myoblasts transplanted into the heart using quantum dot / chitosan nanoparticles, 03/2006-02/2009, A*STAR BMRC, Singapore
  • New methods for fabricating nanoarray devices, 09/2005-08/2008, A*STAR SERC, Singapore
  • High performance single cell micropatterning and related applications in cancer diagnosis and treatment, 05/2003-05/2006, BMRC/NUS Young Investigator Award, Singapore

  • Ho JS, Zhang Y. Wireless nanomedicine for brain tumors. Nature Nanotechnology, 2022, published online.
  • Fu X, Fu S, Lu Q, Wan PP, Zhang J, Liu JL, Zhang Y*, Chen CH, Li W, Wang HD, Mei QS. Excitation energy mediated cross-relaxation for tunable upconversion luminescence from single lanthanide ion. Nature Communications, 2022, 13, Article Number: 4741.
  • Bansal A, Shikah S, Zhang Y*. Towards translational optogenetics. Nature Biomedical Engineering, 2022, published online.
  • Ruan LF, Zhang Y*. NIR-excitable heterostructured upconversion perovskite nanodots with improved stability. Nature Communications, 2021, 12, Article number: 219.
  • Zhang Y, Lei PP, Zhu XH, Zhang Y*. Full shell coating or cation exchange enhances luminescence. Nature Communications, 2021, 12, Article number: 6178.
  • Teh DBL, Bansal A, Chai C, Toh TB, Tucker RAJ, Gammad GGL, Yeo YZ, Lei ZD, Zheng X, Yang FY, Ho JS, Bolem N, Wu BC, Gnanasammandhan MK, Hooi L, Dawe GS, Libedinsky C, Ong WY, Halliwell B, Chow EKH, Lim KL, Zhang Y*, Kennedy BK. A flexi-PEGDA upconversion implant for wireless brain photodynamic therapy. Advanced Materials, 2020, 32, Article Number: 2001459.
  • Lei ZD, Ling X, Mei QS, Fu S, Zhang J, Zhang Y*. Excitation navigating energy migration of lanthanide ions in upconversion nanoparticles. Advanced Materials, 2020, 32, Article number 1906225.
  • Mei QS, Bansal A, Jayakumar MKG, Zhang ZM, Zhang J, Huang H, Yu DJ, Ramachandra CJA, Hausenloy DJ, Soong TW, Zhang Y*. Manipulating energy migration within single lanthanide activator for switchable upconversion emissions towards bidirectional photoactivation. Nature Communications, 2019, 10, Article Number 4416. Research highlight in Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02986-7
  • Zhang Z, Jayakumar MKG, Zheng X, Shikha S, Zhang Y, Bansal A, Poon DJJ, Chu PL, Yeo ELL, Chua MLK, Chee SK, Zhang Y*. Upconversion superballs for programmable photoactivation of therapeutics. Nature Communications, 2019, 10, Article Number 4586.
  • Kwek K, Salafi T, Shikha S, Zhang Y*. Fluorescent label-free quantitative detection of nano-sized bioparticles using a pillar array. Nature Communications, 2018, 9, 1254.
  • Bansal A, Yang FY, Xi T, Zhang Y*, Ho JS. In vivo wireless photonic photodynamic therapy. PNAS, 2018, 115, 1469.
  • Shikha S, Salafi T, Cheng JT, Zhang Y*. Versatile design and synthesis of nano-barcodes. Chemical Society Reviews, 2018, 46, 7054.
  • Jayakumar MKG, Idris NM, Bansal A, Huang K & Zhang Y*. Near infrared photoactivation using mesoporous silica-coated NaYF4:Yb,Er/Tm upconversion nanoparticles. Nature Protocols, 2016, 11, 688.
  • Lucky SS, Soo KC, Zhang Y*. Nanoparticles in photodynamic therapy. Chemical Reviews, 2015, 115, 1990.
  • Idris NM, Jayakumar MKG, Bansal A, Zhang Y*. Upconversion nanoparticles as versatile light nanotransducers for photoactivation applications. Chemical Society Reviews, 2015, 44, 1449.
  • Bansal A, Zhang Y*. Photocontrolled nanoparticle delivery systems for biomedical applications. Accounts of Chemical Research, 2014, 47, 3052.
  • Jayakumar MKG, Bansal A, Huang K, Yao RS, Li BN, Zhang Y*. Near infrared light based nanoplatform boosts endosomal escape and controls gene knockdown in vivo. ACS Nano, 2014, 8, 4848. (IF 18.027)
  • Kwek K, Ranjan S, Zhang Y*. Rotational separation of non-spherical bioparticles using I-shaped pillar arrays in a microfluidic device. Nature Communications, 2013, 4, 1625.
  • Idris, N.M., Gnanasammandhan, M.K., Zhang, J., Ho, P.C.L., Mahendran, R., Zhang, Y*. In-vivo photodynamic therapy using upconversion nanoparticles as remote controlled nano-transducers. Nature Medicine, 2012, 18,1580.
  • Zhang Y.J., Zheng F., Yang T.L., Zhou W., Liu Y., Man N., Zhang L., Dou Q.Q., Zhang Y., Li Z.Q., Wen L.P. Tuning cell interaction and autophagy-inducing activity for lanthanide upconversion nanocrystals through specific surface-coating peptides. Nature Materials, 2012, 11, 817.
  • Gnanasammandhan, M.K., Idris, N.M., Zhang, Y*. Remote activation of biomolecules in deep tissues using NIR-to-UV upconversion nanotransducers, PNAS, 2012, 109, 8483.
  • Li ZQ, Zhang Y*, Jiang S. Multicolor core/shell-structured upconversion fluorescent nanoparticles. Advanced Materials, 2008; 20, 4765.
  • Zhang Y*, Wang C. Micropatterning of proteins on 3D porous polymer films fabricated by using the breath-figure method. Advanced Materials, 2007; 19, 913.
  • Lu MH, Zhang Y*. Microbead patterning on porous films with ordered arrays of pores. Advanced Materials, 2006; 18, 3094.
  • Li ZQ, Zhang Y*. Monodisperse silica-coated polyvinylpyrrolidone/NaYF4 nanocrystals with multicolor upconversion fluorescence emission. Angewandte Chemie-International Edition, 2006, 45, 7732.
  • Wang C, Zhang Y*. Protein micropatterning via self-assembly of nanoparticles. Advanced Materials, 2005, 17, 150.
  • Tan WB, Zhang Y*. Multifunctional quantum-dot-based magnetic chitosan nanobeads. Advanced Materials, 2005, 17, 2375.

Last modified on 23 October 2025

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