Professor Wong received his BS degree in Physics from Caltech, and his PhD in Physics from U.C. Berkeley. He subsequently pursued postdoctoral research on soft matter physics at the FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics in Amsterdam, and on biophysics and bioengineering at U.C. Santa Barbara. His awards include: the Beckman Young Investigator Award (2001), the Burnett Teaching Award (2003), an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship (2004), Xerox Faculty Research Awards (2005 and 2008), selection to the Frontiers of Engineering Symposium sponsored by the National Academy of Engineering (2006), and the Racheff Faculty Scholar Award (2008). Wong also represented the U.S. in the NSF-MEXT US-Japan Young Scientist Symposium on Nanobiotechnology (2005), the Taipei Academica Sinica International Workshop on Soft Matter & Biophysics (2007), and the NSF-DST US-India Nanoscience & Engineering Workshop (2008). He currently serves on the Editorial Board of Physical Review E.

Research Description

We are interested in a multi-disciplinary approach to solving problems in biology and biomedicine, combining physics, chemistry, biology, as well as engineering. The group is inherently interdisciplinary; our collaborations include physicists, chemists, materials scientists, biologists, medical doctors, as well as bioengineers.

AREAS OF RESEARCH:

• Antimicrobials and antibiotic-resistant pathogens
• Bacterial communities (Ex: signaling, motility, social organization in biofilms)
• Cystic Fibrosis
• Apoptosis proteins and cancer therapeutics
• Disinfection and water purification
• Self-assembly in biology and biotechnology (Ex: drug and gene delivery)
• Physical chemistry of solvation (Ex: femtosecond hydration dynamics of ions and surfaces)
• Soft condensed matter physics (Ex: polymers, polyelectrolytes, liquid crystals, colloids, nanoparticles)
• Biophysics (Ex: DNA, membranes, proteins)