Hongya Geng

Dr. Hongya Geng has been appointed as an Assistant Professor (Special Research Fellow) and Ph.D. Supervisor at the Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School as an independent principal investigator. Leading the Biomimetic Functional Hydrogel Group, his team focuses on the preparation and processing of biomaterials, biomimetic functional hydrogels, conductive polymers, and organic-inorganic hybrid nanostructures, along with their applications in tissue engineering prosthesis and cryopreservation. Employing advanced biomanufacturing techniques such as 3D printing, ice templating, wet chemical spinning, laser direct writing, and laser etching, the group achieves precise control over the hierarchical structures of polymer hydrogels at the nano-micro-macro levels. Through the organic composites of natural polysaccharides, peptides, proteins, and conductive polymers, they develop multifunctional hydrogel systems responsive to light, heat, and electricity, promoting the regeneration of soft tissues, blood vessels, and nerves for wound healing and neural repair. They also design novel ice-melting and nano-warming materials, aiming to achieve efficient cryopreservation of organs and organoids. Furthermore, they have developed an interface-initiated radical reaction strategy, where radicals are spontaneously formed at the organic/inorganic interface to simultaneously construct a strong interface between the hydrogel and the substrate. This strategy utilizes conventional water-soluble polymers and peptides as skeleton structures and bridging elements, forming integrated organic, inorganic, and air hydrogels, incorporating units such as photothermal, enzyme-responsive, and drug carriers. This innovation enables non-invasive light-driven liquid transportation, water vapor evaporation, long-lasting antibacterial effects, and photothermal diagnosis and therapy.

As a principal investigator, Dr. Geng has undertaken 10 projects including grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Shenzhen Peacock Program, and strategic projects from Tsinghua University. He has published over 30 SCI papers, with more than 20 as corresponding and/or first author in renowned journals such as Nature Communications, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Angewandte Chemie, Advanced Healthcare Materials, Account of Chemical Research, Advanced Functional Materials, and Advanced Energy Materials, accumulating over 1500 citations as of June 2024. He has also filed and been granted 16 patents. He has been selected as a Shenzhen Peacock overseas high-level talent program, the National overseas talent program, and Marie Skłodowska Curie Scholar by the European Union.

2014/09-2017/7, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, physical chemistry, Ph.D.

2011/09-2014/7, Shanghai University/School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Chemical Engineering and Technology, M.S.

2007/09-2011/7, Shanghai University/Hefei Normal University, B.S.

2022/08-now, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Assistant Professor

2021/08-2022/8, Karolinska Institute (The Stevens Group), Marie Skłodowska Curie fellow

2019/08-2022/8, Imperial College London (The Stevens Group), Research Associate

2017/07-2019/07, Tsinghua University, Postdoctoral Researcher

《Military Medical Research》Youth Editor

《Brain-X》Youth Editor

《Biosensors》Guest Editor

《Gels》Guest Editor

Expert Committee Member of the China Biochemical Pharmaceutical Industry Association

Expert Committee Member of the China Lean Manufacturing Platform for Cells

Adjunct Professor at Jiangsu University of Science and Technology

Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Cross-Innovation Practice Course—Principles and Applications of Cryopreservation (65990262)

Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering (85991302)

Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Advances in Regenerative Medicine Technology (86000553)

Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Medical Science Research (82917002)

Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Biomechanics (86000542)

Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Advances in Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine (84000441)

Research on the design, structure modification, and interface engineering of conductive polymer-biomacromolecule composite hydrogels

Development of ice-inhibiting nanowarming materials and their applications in organoids and organ cryopreservation

Design and application research of near-infrared light-electrically induced ion and signal factor tissue constructs in tissue engineering

1. Lu, Q.; Wang, X.; Fan, X.; Lin, J.; Hu, J.; Duan, G.; Yu, H.; Geng, Z.; Wang X.; Dai, H.; Liu, F.; Wen, L.; Geng, H.* Wintersweet-like nanohybrids of titanium-doped cerium vanadate loaded with polypyrrole for tumor theranostic. Adv. Healthc. Mater. 2024, 24000830.

2. Liu, L.; Fan, X.; Lu, Q.; Wang, P.; Wang, X.; Han, Y.; Geng, H. ^*; Antimicrobial research of carbohydrate polymer-and protein-based hydrogels as reservoirs for the generation of reactive oxygen species: A review. Int. J. Bio. Macro. 2024, 129251.

3. Wang, Z.; Dai, H.; Chen, B.; Cheng, S.; Sun, Y.; Zhao, J.; Geng, H. ^*; Effluent quality prediction of the sewage treatment based on a hybrid neural network model: Comparison and application. J. Environ. Manage. 2024, 351, 119900.

4. Cui, J.; Liu, L.; Chen, B.; Hu, J.; Song, M.; Dai, H.; Geng, H. ^*; A comprehensive review on the inherent and enhanced antifouling mechanisms of hydrogels and their applications. Int. J. Bio. Macro. 2024, 130994.

5. Jia, X.; Fan, X.; Chen, C.; Lu, Q.; Zhou, H.; Zhao, Y.; Geng, H. ^*; Chemical and structural engineering of gelatin-based delivery systems for therapeutic applications: a review. Biomacromolecules 2024, 25, 564-589.

6. Tsoy, A.; Liu, Z.; Zhang, H.; Zhou, M.; Yang, W.; Geng, H.; Jiang, K.; Yuan, X.; Geng, Z.; Image-free single-pixel keypoint detection for privacy preserving human pose estimation. Opt. Lett. 2024, 49, 546-549.

7. Xiao, T.; He, G.; Geng, H.; Wang, Y.; Sun, S.; Microneedle assisted delivery of epidermal and dermal stem cells to promote hair growth. J. Mater. Sci. 2024, 59, 8427-8440.

8. Geng, H.; Lupton, E. J.; Ma, Y.; Grigsby, C. L.; Brachi, G.; Stuckey, D. J.; Stevens M. M.^* Bandgap engineering of conductive polymer nanosheets for precise raman/photoacoustic imaging and photothermal therapy, Adv. Healthc. Mater. 2023, 12, 2301148.

9. Wang, P.; Liu, Q.; Fu, W.; Zhang, C.; Cai, G.; Xing, W.; Dai, H.; Geng, H. ^*; Xu, D. Modulation of non-covalent wet adhesion and cohesion via proximally immobilized non-lysine pair structure. Chem. Eng. J. 2023, 461, 141738.

10. Dai, H.; Geng. H. ^*; Wang, X. Optimal control of sewage treatment process using a dynamic multi-objective particle swarm optimization based on crowding distance. J. Environ. Chem. Eng. 2023, 11, 109484.

11. Chen, C.; Jia, X.; Li, X.; Shi, M.; Hu, J.; Song, M.; Geng, H. ^*; Scalable wet-spinning of wearable chitosan-silica textile for all-day radiative cooling. Chem. Eng. J. 2023, 475, 146307.

12. Wu, M.; Sun, K.; He, J.; Huang, Q.; Zhan, W.; Lu, Z.; Geng, H. ^*; Zou, Z; Hierarchically 3D fibrous electrode for high‐performance flexible ac‐line filtering in fluctuating energy harvesters. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2023, 33, 2305039.

13. Li, X.; Wang, P.; Lu, Q.; Yao, H.; Yang, C.; Zhao, Y.; Geng, H. ^*; A hierarchical porous aerohydrogel for enhanced water evaporation. Water Res. 2023, 244, 120447.

14. Zhao, J.; Dai, H.; Wang, Z.; Chen, C.; Cai, X.; Song, M.; Geng, H. ^*; Self-organizing modeling and control of activated sludge process based on fuzzy neural network. J. Water Process Eng. 2023, 53, 103641.

15. Dai, H.; Zhao, J.; Wang, Z.; Chen, C.; Liu, X.’ Guo, Z.; Geng, H. ^*; Wang, X. (2023). Optimal control of sewage treatment process using a dynamic multi-objective particle swarm optimization based on crowding distance. J. Environ. Chem. Eng. 2023, 11, 109484.

16. Geng, H.; Pedersen, S. V.; Ma, Y.; Haghighi, T.; Dai, H.; Dowes, P. D.; Stevens, M. M.^* Noble Metal Nanoparticle Biosensors: From Fundamental Studies toward Point-of-Care Diagnostics, Acc. Chem. Res., 2022, 55, 593-604.

17. Wu, M.; Geng, H.; Hu, Y.; Ma, H.; Yang, C.; Chen, H.; Wen, Y.; Chen, H.; Li, C.; Liu, F.; Jiang, L.; Qu, L.; Superelastic graphene aerogel-based metamaterials. Nat. Commun. 2022, 13, 4561.

18. Dai, H.; Sun Y.; Wan D.; Geng, H.; Wang, X. Simultaneous denitrification and phosphorus removal: a review on the functional strains and activated sludge processes. Sci. Total Enviro. 2022, 835, 155409.

19. Sun, R.; Song, X.; Zhou, K.; Zuo, Y.; Wang, R.; Rifaie, O.; Peeler, D.; Xie, R.; Leng, Y.; Geng, H.; Brachi, G.; Ma, Y.; Liu, Y.; Barron, L.; Stevens, M. Assembly of fillable microrobotic systems by microfluidic loading with dip sealing. Adv. Mater. 2022, 2207791.

20. Wang, X.; Han, T.; Geng, H.; Dai, H.^* Effects of nano metal oxide particles on activated sludge system: Stress and performance recovery mechanism, Environ. Pollut., 2021, 285, 117408.

21. Geng, H.; Peng, Y.; Qu, L.;^* Zhang, H.;^* Wu, M.^* Structure Design and Composition Engineering of Carbon‐Based Nanomaterials for Lithium Energy Storage, Adv. Energy Mater. 2020, 10, 1903030.

22. Geng, H.; Lv, C.; Wu, M.; Ma, H.; Cheng, H.; Li, C.; Yuan, J.; Qu, L.^*, Biomimetic antigravity water transport and remote harvesting powered by sunlight, Global Challenges., 2020, 4, 2000043.

23. Wu, C.; Geng, H.; Tan, S.; Lv, J.; Wang, H.; He, Z.; Wang, J.^* Highly Efficient Solar Anti-Icing/Deicing via A Hierarchical Structured Surface, Mater. Horiz. 2020, 7, 2097-2104.

24. Liu, X.; Geng, H.; Sheng, N.; Wang, J.; Shi, G.^* Suppressing Ice Growth By Integrating The Dual Characteristics of Antifreeze Proteins into Biomimetic Two-Dimensional Graphene Derivatives, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2020, 8, 23555-23562.

25. Geng, H.; Xu, Q.; Wu, M.; Ma, H.; Zhang, P.; Gao, T.; Qu, L.;^* Ma, T.;^* Li, C.* Plant Leaves Inspired Sunlight-Driven Purifier for High-Efficiency Clean Water Production, Nat. Commun., 2019, 10, 1-10.

26. Ma, H.; Geng, H.; Yao, B.; Wu, M.; Li, C.; Zhang, M.; Chi, F.; Qu, L.^* Highly Ordered Graphene Solid: An Efficient Platform for Capacitive Sodium-Ion Storage with Ultrahigh Volumetric Capacity and Superior Rate Capability, ACS Nano, 2019, 13, 9161-9170.

27. Xu, X.; Liu, L.; Geng, H.; Wang, J.; Zhou, J.; Jiang, Y.; Doi, M. Directional Freezing of Binary Colloidal Suspensions: A Model for Size Fractionation of Graphene Oxide, Soft Matter, 2019, 15, 243-251.

28. Wu, M.; Chi, F.; Geng, H.; Ma, H.; Zhang, M.; Gao, T.; Li, C.; Qu, L.^* Arbitrary Waveform AC Line Filtering Applicable to Hundreds of Volts Based on Aqueous Electrochemical Capacitors, Nat. Commun., 2019, 10, 1-9.

29. Geng, H.; Zhou, K.; Zhou, J.; Ma, H.; Lv, C.; Li, C.; Xu, Z.; Qu, L.^* Sunlight‐Driven Water Transport via A Reconfigurable Pump. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2018, 130, 15661-15666.

30. Zhang, P.; Liu, P.; Liao, Q.; Geng, H.; Cheng, H.; Li, C.; Qu, L.^* A Microstructured Graphene/Poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) Membrane for Intelligent Solar Water Evaporation, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2018, 57, 16343-16347.

31. Geng, H.; Liu, X.; Shi, G.; Bai, G.; Ma, J.; Chen, J.; Wu, Z.; Song, Y.; Fang, H.; Wang, J.^* Graphene Oxide Restricts Growth and recrystallization of ice crystals, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2017, 129, 1017-1021.

32. Geng, H.; Yao, B.; Zhou, J.; Liu, K.; Bai, G.; Li, W.; Song, Y.; Shi, G.; Doi, M.; Wang, J.^* Size Fractionation of Graphene Oxide Nanosheets via Controlled Directional Freezing, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2017, 139, 12517-12523.

33. Geng, H.; Chen, W.; Xu, Z.; Qian, G.; An, J.; Zhang, H.^* Shape‐Controlled Hollow Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles with Multifunctional Capping for In Vitro Cancer Treatment, Chem. A Eur. J, 2017, 23, 10878-10885.

34. Bai, G.; Song, Z.; Geng, H.; Gao, D.; Liu, K.; Wu, S.; Rao, W.; Wang, J.^* Oxidized Quasi‐Carbon Nitride Quantum Dots Inhibit Ice Growth, Adv. Mater. 2017, 29, 1606843.