Dr. Fang's research focuses on the interdisciplinary area of physics, chemistry, materials and biology, with an emphasis on self-organized biological systems and self-assembled nanostructural materials. Technology development such as scanning probe microscopy, liquid crystal optical amplification, and soft lithography also plays a major role in his research activities. This area has rich opportunities for students both in fundamental science and practical technologies.

There are four current projects in Dr. Fang's Group:

1. Imaging order, defects and dynamics of biological interfaces with liquid crystals.
2. Stretching polymers and biopolymers in thin films with scanning probe microscope.
3. Nanomaterials based on self-assembly of biological building blocks such as lipids, peptides, DNA and Virus.
4. Protein crystal-directed assembly of 2-D and 3-D inorganic nanocrystals.

Selected Publications

Imaging Biological Cells Using Liquid Crystals. Langmuir (Cover story) 19, 2865 (2003). (see also research news on this work in Nature Materials 2, 70 (2003) and Biophotonics April, 32, (2003).

Electrochemical and Laser Deposition of Silver Particles for Use in Metal Enhanced Fluorescence. Langmuir 19, 6236 (2003).

Fluorescence Spectral Properties of Cyanine Dye-Labeled DNA-Oligomers on Surfaces Coated with Silver Particles. Analytical Biochemistry 317, 136 (2003).

Increased Resonance Energy Transfer Between Fluorophores Bound to DNA in Proximity to Metallic Silver Particles. Analytical Biochemistry 315, 160 (2003).

Fluorescence Spectra of Cyanine Dye-Labeled DNA- Near Silver Particles. Biopolymer 72, 96 (2003).

Effects of Silver Island Films on Fluorescence Intensity, Lifetime, and Resonance Energy Transfer. Analytical Biochemistry 301, 261 (2002).

Photostability of Cy3-Labeled DNA in the Presence of Silver Particles. J. Fluorescence 12, 439 (2002).

Complex Pattern Formation by Cowpea Mosaic Virus Nanoparticles. Langmuir 18, 308 (2002).

Photodimerization-Induced Positional Order in Self-Assembled Monolayers. Langmuir 17, 1549 (2001).

Synthesis and Photodimerization of Self-Assembled Monolayers of 7- (8-Trimethoxysilane) Octenyloxy Coumarin. J. Mater. Chem. 12, 2992 (2001).

Growth and Structure of Chromophores Functionalized Aminosilane Self-Assembled Monolayers. Langmuir 16, 2651 (2000).

Photosensitive Triethoxysilane Derivatives for Liquid Crystal Alignment. Chem. Mater. 12, 3288 (2000).

Imaging the Azimuthal Tilt Order in Monolayers by Liquid Crystal Optical Amplification. Langmuir (Cover Story) 15, 297 (1999).

Stepwise Collapse of Monolayers of Cyclolines Polysilaxanes. J. Phys. Chem. B 103, 11372 (1999).

Relating the Molecular Tilt Azimuth to Frictional Force Images. J. Phys. Chem. B 102, 2614 (1998).

Imaging Bacteriophage T4 on Self-Assembled Monolayers with AFM. J. Phys. Chem. B 101, 8692 (1997).

Structures of Collapsed Polysilaxane Monolayers Investigated by AFM. J. Phys. Chem. B 101, 3147 (1997).

Boojums and Shapes of Domains in Monolayers. Phys. Rev. E 56, 1859 (1997).