Our Team

A group of eleven people standing in front of a historic monument with columns and a dome, with the text 'UNIVERSITY ā€¢ THE GEORGE WASH' inscribed on it. The setting appears to be outdoors on a sunny day with trees and buildings in the background.

We are a group of materials scientists, microbiologists, and environmental engineers working at the interface of nanomaterials, microbes, and environmental systems.

  • A young man with short black hair, wearing glasses, dressed in a dark suit, white shirt, and light gray tie, smiling in front of a plain light-colored background.

    Danmeng Shuai

    Principle Investigator

    Danmeng earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Tsinghua University and Ph.D. degree in University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Danmeng is trained as an environmental chemist and became increasingly intrigued by microbiology after beginning his independent career. Outside the lab, he enjoys cooking authentic (spicy) Chinese food, reading science news, and swimming (as well as watching funny video clips).

  • A person standing in the snow with trees in the background, wearing a red jacket, black pants, brown boots, a blue beanie, glasses, and holding a walking stick.

    Jiahao Chen

    Ph.D. Student, Fall 2020-Present

    Jiahao obtained his B.S. degree from Sichuan University, and he is now working on solar UVB and reactive oxygen species for inactivating vesicle-cloaked virus clusters.

  • A person sitting cross-legged in front of a large black and white photograph of six basketball players wearing uniform with 'WOLVES' on them, holding basketballs. The person in the foreground is wearing a red jacket with fur-lined hood.

    Rui Fu

    Ph.D. Student, Spring 2022-Present

    Rui obtained his B.S. degree from Iowa State University and M.S. degree from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He aims to understand the mechanical robustness of vesicle-cloaked virus clusters under diverse environmental stressors by using atomic force microscopy. He is co-advised with Dr. Santiago Solares from Catholic University of America.

  • A young woman with long dark hair wearing a beige hat, a patterned shirt, and a white jacket, holding a smartphone, water bottle, and face mask, standing outdoors with a modern building in the background.

    Zhenzhen He

    Ph.D. Student, Fall 2022-Present

    Zhenzhen earned her B.S. degree from Anhui Agricultural University and her M.S. degree from Sun Yat-sen University. She studies methods to evaluate the infectivity of human norovirus in environmental samples using a salivary gland cell line. She participates in the NIH Graduate Partnership Program and is co-advised by Dr. Nihal Altan-Bonnet.

  • Young man with black hair smiling with arms open wide standing on a sidewalk in a park surrounded by trees, bicycles, and shrubs on a sunny day.

    Li Qian

    Ph.D. Student, Fall 2022-Present

    Li earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Nanjing University. His research examines the performance and mechanisms of Legionella pneumophila disinfection, as well as bacterial responses to disinfectants. He uses tissue models to investigate the potential human-health impacts of disinfected opportunistic pathogens. Li is co-advised by Danmeng and Dr. Yun Shen at GW, who serves as his primary advisor.

  • Young man with short dark hair smiling in front of a lush, mountainous landscape with tall, twisted pine trees and misty mountains in the background.

    Hongyue Zhang

    Ph.D. Student, Fall 2022-Present

    Hongyue earned his B.S. degree from Soochow University and his M.S. degree from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He studies bacterial membrane vesicles in wastewater, including their removal and their potential role in carrying antibiotic-resistance genes. Hongyue is co-advised by Danmeng and Dr. Yun Shen at GW, who serves as his primary advisor.

  • Young woman in a graduation cap and gown standing indoors near a glass wall and green plants.

    Jia Fu

    Ph.D. Student, Spring 2023-Present

    Jia earned her B.S. degree from Hefei University of Technology and M.S. degrees from Tongji University and Penn State. She develops single-atom catalysts for virus disinfection and examines the robustness and longevity of these catalysts in reactions.

  • A person with black hair, glasses, and wearing a black jacket stands on a beach at sunset, with pink and purple clouds in the sky and calm water reflecting the colors.

    Yikai Jing

    Ph.D. Student, Fall 2023-Present

    Yikai earned his B.S. degree from Huazhong Agricultural University and his M.S. degree from Duke University. He studies how complex environments tailor the performance of single-atom catalysts for chemical contaminant removal.

  • A man wearing glasses and a black T-shirt standing outdoors by a body of water with a traditional Chinese-style building and trees in the background. He is holding onto a large rock with carvings and symbols.

    Pengyu Yan

    Ph.D. Student, Fall 2023-Present

    Pengyu earned his B.S. degree from Tianjin University and M.S. degrees from Virginia Tech. He develops artificial enzymes for protein hydrolysis under mild conditions. In addition, he studies the environmental behavior of chemical contaminants associated with bacterial membrane vesicles.

  • A young man with glasses and a striped t-shirt near a river, holding up peace signs with both hands, with green hills and a cloudy sky in the background.

    Qisheng Yu

    Ph.D. Student, Spring 2024-Present

    Qisheng earned his B.S. degree from Nanjing Agricultural University and his M.S. degree from Tsinghua University. He studies disinfection and environmental behavior of vesicle-associated viruses.

  • A young man with dark hair, light brown skin, and a slight beard, wearing a white checkered dress shirt and black pants, standing in a white room.

    Mahmud Syed

    Ph.D. Student, Spring 2024-Present

    Mahmud earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees from University of Dhaka. He leverages synthetic biology tools for harvesting valuable resources from waste.

Postdoctoral Researcher

ā€‹ā€‹ļ»æEnrique A. LoĢpez-Guerra, now a principal wafer metrology engineer at Western Digitalā€‹

Alumni

Ph.D. Students

Tao Ye, now an assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Ocean Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology
Qinmin Zheng, now a postdoc in MIT and Founder of WATABOT
Ruochen Zhu, now self-employed
Hongchen Shen, now a postdoc in Virginia Tech
Mengyang Zhang, now an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at University of Cincinnati
Mengqiao Li
Zhe Zhou, now a postdoc in Yale University

M.S. Students

Yusi Li, now an assistant research scientist in Chemical Engineering, School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy at Arizona State University

Undergraduate Researchers

ļ»æSuty Komsonkeo
Michaela Stanch
ļ»æKhalid Alsadhan
Jiangnan Lu
Kayla Tarr
Yoon Sil Choi
Trinh Ton

Visiting Scholars

Yingxue Sun, professor in Beijing Technology and Business University
Chi Zhang, associate professor in Hohai University

Others

Haihuan Wang