PI

PI
Principal Investigator
Dr. Yeongseon Jang

Assistant Professor
Chemical Engineering
University of Florida

1006 Center Drive, Gainesville, FL 32611
Office: ChE 215 | Phone: (352) 294-1289 | Email: y.jang@ufl.edu

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Education & Professional Development
2015-2018, Post-doc., Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology 
2014-2015, Post-doc., Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania
2013, Ph.D. in Chemical & Biological Engineering, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea
2008, B.S. in Chemical & Biological Engineering, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea (Summa cum laude) 
 
Awards & Honor
2021, KIChE President Young Investigator Award
2021, NSF CAREER Award
2017, The STAMI Scientific Travel Award (Georgia Tech)
2015, The Africk Postdoctoral Fellowship (Univ. Penn.)
2011, The First Paper Award (The Korean Neutron Beam Users Association)
2011, The Best Poster Award (Asia-Oceania Conference on Neutron Scattering)
2010-2011, Hi Seoul Science Fellowship 
2010, The Best Poster Award (The Polymer Society of Korea)
2004-2010, The National Science & Technology Scholarship (Ministry of Education and Science Technology, Republic of Korea)
 
Activities
2017 – present | Member, American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)
2017 – present | Member, American Chemical Society (ACS)
2018 – present | Organizing Committee, Korean Institute of Chemical Engineers, US Chapter
2018 – present | Member, Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association (KSEA)  
2022 – present | President, KSEA Gainesville Chapter
 
Biosketch
Dr. Yeongseon Jang was born in Chungju, South Korea. She earned a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering at Seoul National University in 2008. Yeongseon carried out undergraduate research on the electrostatic interaction-driven layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly of charged polyelectrolytes under the guidance of Prof. Kookheon char. She earned a Ph.D. degree also in Chemical Engineering at Seoul National University in 2013 under the supervision of Prof. Char. During her Ph.D. work, she investigated the changes in nanostructures of LbL polymer thin films upon diverse external stimuli using neutron scattering and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring and developed functional polymer thin films to understand cellular behavior as a function of external cues designed at the surface. Dr. Jang received full financial support and academic fellowship for her undergraduate and graduate programs from the Korean government (Ministry of Education and Science Technology).
Dr. Jang moved to the University of Pennsylvania in 2014 to conduct post-doctoral research under the supervision of Profs. Daeyeon Lee and Daniel Hammer, where she worked on engineering mechanical properties of recombinant protein-shelled gas bubbles for antivascular cancer therapy. Then, she moved to Georgia Institute of Technology for more post-doctoral experience under the guidance of Prof. Julie Champion. Dr. Jang worked on understanding the vesicle nanostructure, self-assembled from recombinant fusion proteins, using small-angle neutron scattering and other microscopy techniques. 

Based on her basic and applied science settings merged with polymer science, protein engineering, and scattering techniques, Dr. Jang developed her independent research as PI to address human health challenges at the University of Florida. Jang lab has been working on synthetic cell design using engineered recombinant fusion proteins and insect wing-mimicking bactericidal structure development for implants. Specific fundamental focus includes de novo fusion protein design, biomacromolecular self-assembly, subcellular processing mechanisms, and cell-surface interaction. She believes that the Jang Lab is uniquely suited to combine a rational design of building molecules via cutting-edge recombinant technology and the construction of self-assembled structures with the assessment of their therapeutic performance. Dr. Jang is devoted to contributing the society by mentoring students from K-8 to the postdoctoral level by improving her skills necessary to guide and motivate next-generation scientists and researchers in STEM. She also loves teaching. She has developed new elective coursework of “Polymer Science and Engineering” in her department and taught a core undergraduate course, “ECH4824: Materials for Chemical Engineering”. She received honors and awards, including NSF Career Award and KIChE President Young Investigator Award. Dr. Jang enjoys hanging out with her family, painting, assembling jigsaw puzzles, and watching sports games.