Zhibin Guan

Biography

Zhibin Guan, Ph.D., is Professor of Chemistry, Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Material Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. Guan received his Ph.D. in Polymer Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1994, where he worked under the direction of J. DeSimone. He completed postdoctoral training at Caltech with F. Arnold, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2018. Before joining UCI in 2000, Guan worked as a research chemist at DuPont Central Research in Wilmington, Delaware.

Guan's research focuses on bioinspired design of dynamic polymeric materials, development of sustainable polymeric materials, and design of functional biomaterials for gene delivery and biomedical applications. His work has contributed to the development of self-healing polymers, vitrimers with tunable properties, and electrically fueled active supramolecular materials. Guan has also developed methods for recycling polyethylene into liquid fuels through catalytic dehydrogenation and olefin metathesis, and created dendronized polymers for efficient delivery of various RNAs.

Guan is a Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science and recipient of the Humboldt Bessel Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He has received the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, the NSF CAREER Award, and the Beckman Young Investigator Award. Guan has authored over 130 peer-reviewed publications and holds 38 patents. He served as Chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Bioinspired Materials in 2018 and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the National Center of Competence in Research Bio-Inspired Materials in Switzerland.

Education

• B.S. in Chemistry, Peking University, 1987
• M.S. in Polymer Chemistry, Peking University, 1990
• Ph.D. in Polymer Chemistry, University of North Carolina, 1994

Distinctions

• Fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2008
• Humboldt Bessel Research Award, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany, 2006-2007
• Chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Bioinspired Materials, 2018
• JSPS Invitation Fellowship for Research (long-term), Japan, 2016
• Beckman Young Investigator Award, Arnold & Mabel Beckman Foundation, 2001-2004
• Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, 2005-2010
• 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award, 3M Company, 2002-2003
• DuPont Young Professor Award, DuPont Company, 2001-2004
• Research Innovation Award, University of California, 2005
• Dobbins Fellowship, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1992