Meet the Team
We strive to foster an inclusive, supportive group culture where researchers of diverse backgrounds are equally welcomed & respected.
Principal Investigator
Xiaoran Hu, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Postdoc, Cornell & Caltech
Ph.D., Tufts University
B.S., Nanjing University
xhu156 [at] syr.edu | (315)443-9489
Affiliation: BioInspired Institute | Upstate Cancer Center
Biography: Xiaoran joined the faculty at Syracuse University in 2022. Xiaoran grew up in Henan province in China and received a B.S. in chemistry from Nanjing University in 2010. During his doctoral studies with Prof. Samuel Thomas at Tufts (2012-2017), Xiaoran developed strategies to photo-control polymer self-assembly. Xiaoran then conducted his postdoc research in polymer mechanochemistry in the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Caltech (2017-2021), mentored by Prof. Maxwell Robb. After that, Xiaoran furthered his postdoctoral training in biomaterials and drug delivery with Profs. Shaoyi Jiang in the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering and Geoffrey Coates in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Cornell University (2021-2022). Honors and Awards 2024 Thieme Chemistry Journals Award, Thieme Publishing Group. 2018 Finalist, ACS Eastman Chemical Student Award in Applied Polymer Science, American Chemical Society. 2016 Graduate Student Research Competition Award, Tufts University. 2016 Graduate Research Excellence at Tufts (GREAT) Fellowship, Tufts University. 2016 Graduate Student Travel Award, Tufts University.
Postdoctoral Scholars
Xuancheng Fu, Ph.D. ✉
Ph.D., Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
B.S., Jilin University, China
Xuancheng was raised in Jilin, China. He received his Ph.D. degree from ICCAS under the guidance of Professor Shu Wang, developing light-responsive biomaterials. Before joining Syracuse, Xuancheng was a lecturer at Beijing Sports University, where he conducted research on Point-of-Care Testing methods for doping detection. Xuancheng is interested in developing advanced materials systems for gene therapy applications. (NetID: xfu122)
Ramarani Sethy, Ph.D. ✉
Ph.D., Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Japan
B.S., Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram
To be updated
Graduate & Undergraduate Students
Cijun Zhang ✉ University Graduate Fellow
Doctoral Student, 2021-present
B.S., Nankai University, China
Cijun grew up in Hebei, China. Cijun conducted undergraduate research in the total synthesis of Seco-dendrobine alkaloids with Prof. Guangxin Liang. After graduation, he worked as a research assistant in Dr. Ran Hong's lab at Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (SIOC) CAS to study the total synthesis of erythrina and gelsedine alkaloids. Cijun started his graduate study at SU under the supervision of Prof. Ivan Korendovych in 2021 and conducted research in the directed evolution of enzymes and catalytical peptides. He transferred to the Hu Lab in May 2023 to study organic materials chemistry. Cijun is also known as a certified chess master in China with the title of Chinese Chess Association Master earned in 2010, and he is pursuing FIDE International Master in chess tournaments. His other interests are poetry, fencing, and board games. Cijun interested in physical organic and materials chemistry (NetID: czhang54)
Bowen Xu ✉
Doctoral Student, 2022-present
M.S., University of Southern California
B.E., Hefei University of Technology, China
Bowen was raised in Xi'an, China. He studied materials science and machine learning and received a master's degree from USC before moving to Syracuse. Bowen is interested in developing biomaterials for drug delivery applications. Outside of the lab, Bowen is an energetic person who likes basketball, skiing, and travel. (NetID: bxu102)
Franklin Boyu Zhu
Bio '25 (2023-)
2024 SOURCE Fellow
Luke Westbrook
Biochem '25 (2023-)
Michelle Wu
Pub Health '24 (2023-)
Timothy Garcia
Chem '25 (2024-)
Seth Brown
Medchem '26 (2024-)
Max Lancer
Chem '26 (2024-)
2024 SOURCE Fellow
JOIN US We're recruiting graduate students with interest in one or several of the following areas: synthetic organic materials chemistry, physical organic chemistry, polymers, biomaterials, and drug delivery. See Contact page for more details.
Alumni James Peden Undergraduate Researcher 2023 Diego Silva Undergraduate Researcher 2023