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Yanjie Zhang, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry 540.568.5527 zhang3yz@jmu.edu Research Page

Education, Honors, Awards

• Assistant Professor, James Madison University (2009-present)
• Postdoctoral Associate, Texas A&M University (2002-2009)
• Ph.D., Jilin University (2001)
• B.S., Jilin University (1996)

Research Interests

• Biomineralization templated by chiral molecules
• Chiral recognition at the air/water interface
• Cell adhesion to chiral surfaces

Research Description

Chirality is one of the most distinctive signatures of nature. Building blocks of life, such as amino acids, sugars, proteins, and DNA, and many natural products like steroids, hormones, and pheromones possess chirality. On the molecular level, chirality often has a profound impact on interaction and recognition events and is consequently fundamental in biochemistry and pharmacology. However, understanding chiral interactions related to biological processes is far from complete. The best way to elucidate the underlying mechanism of chiral interactions in complex biological systems is through the appropriate choice of a model system such as amino acid-based amphiphiles, polymers, and surfaces. These amino acid-derived materials are biologically-based and have a number of attractive properties, such as chemical simplicity, surface activity, biological activity, and biocompatibility. Three areas of interest spanning physical chemistry, materials chemistry, and biological chemistry listed above will be investigated in our group.

Selected Recent Publications

• Zhang, Y. J.; Cremer, P. S. Chemistry of Hofmeister Anions and Osmolytes. Annual Review of Physical Chemistry, 2010, 61, 63-83.
• Zhang, Y. J.; Cremer, P. S. The Inverse and Direct Hofmeister Series for Lysozyme. Proceedings of the NationalAcademy of Sciences, 2009, 106, 15249-15253.
• Sagle, L. B.; Zhang, Y. J.; Litosh, V. A.; Chen, X.; Cho, Y.; Cremer, P. S. Investigating the Hydrogen Bonding Model of Urea Denaturation. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2009, 131, 9304-9310.
• Cho, Y.; Sagle, L. B.; Iimura, S.; Zhang, Y. J.; Kherb, J.; Chikoti, A.; Scholtz, J. M.; Cremer, P. S. Hydrogen Bonding of β-Turn Structure is Stabilized in D2O Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2009, 131, 15188-15193.
• Cho, Y.;Zhang, Y. J.; Christensen, T.; Sagle, L. B.;Chilkoti, A.; Cremer, P. S. Effects of Hofmeister Anions on the Phase Transition Temperature of Elastin-like Polypeptides.The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2008, 112, 13765-13771.
• Zhang, Y. J.; Furyk, S.; Sagle, L. B.; Cho, Y.; Bergbreiter, D. E.; Cremer, P. S. Effects of Hofmeister Anions on the LCST of PNIPAM as a Function of Molecular Weight. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2007, 111, 8916-8924.
• Zhang, Y. J.; Cremer, P. S. Interactions between Macromolecules and Ions: the Hofmeister Series. Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, 2006, 10, 658-663.
• Zhang, Y. J.; Trabbic-Carlson, K.; Albertorio, F.; Chilkoti, A.; Cremer, P. S.Aqueous Two-Phase System Formation Kinetics for Elastin-like Polypeptides of Varying Chain Length.  Biomacromolecules, 2006, 7, 2192-2199.
• Zhang, Y. J.; ; Furyk, S.; Bergbreiter, D. E.; Cremer, P. S. Specific Ion Effects on the Water Solubility of Macromolecules: PNIPAM and the Hofmeister Series. Journal of the American Chemical Society,2005, 127, 14505-14510.
• Mao, H. B.; Li, C. M.; Zhang, Y. J.; ; Furyk, S.; Cremer, P. S.; Bergbreiter, D. E. High Throughput Studies of Polymer and Solution Structure on the Phase Separation of Thermoresponsive Polymers. Macromolecules, 2004, 37, 1031-1036.
• Zhang, Y. J.; Mao, H. B.; Cremer, P. S. Probing the Mechanism of Aqueous Two-Phase System Formation for a-Elastin On-Chip. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2003, 125, 15630-15635. 
• Mao, H. B.; Li, C. M.; Zhang, Y. J.; ; Bergbreiter, D. E.; Cremer, P. S. Measuring LCSTs by Novel Temperature Gradient Methods: Evidence for Intermolecular Interactions in Mixed Polymer Solutions.  Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2003, 125, 2850-2851.

Last Modified: 07/21/08