Gerard Wong

Gerard Wong

PROFESSOR
BIOENGINEERING

Professor, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry; Professor, California Nanosystems Institute

4121E Engineering V

Email: gclwong@seas.ucla.edu
Phone: (310) 794-7684
Fax: (310) 794-5956

Websites

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Professor Wong received his BS degree in Physics from Caltech and his PhD in Physics from UC 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 UC Santa Barbara. Wong represented the U.S. in the NSF-MEXT US-Japan Young Scientist ymposium on Nanobiotechnology (2005), the Taipei Academia Sinica International Workshop on Soft Matter and Biophysics (2007), and the NSF-DST US-India Nanoscience & Engineering Workshop (2008). He currently serves on the Editorial Board of Physical Review E.
RESEARCH AND INTERESTS
We are interested in 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, material scientists, biologists, medical doctors, as well as bioengineers. AREAS OF RESEARCH Immunity and antibiotics
  • Innate immunity and antimicrobial peptides
  • Antibiotic-resistant pathogens and antibiotic design
  • Transporter sequences and cell penetrating peptides for drug delivery
  • Budding and scission peptides in viruses
  • Autoimmune diseases (Ex: lupus, psoriasis)
Bacterial communities and biofilms
  • Bacterial communities (Ex: cdiGMP signaling, motility, social organization in biofims)
  • Image processing, machine learning, application of ‘big data’ methods
  • Biofouling
  • Cystic Fibrosis
Biophysics
  • Protein-lipid interactions and membrane curvature generation (Ex: Apoptosis proteins and cancer therapeutics)
  • Synchrotron x-ray methods
  • Physical chemistry of solvation (Ex: femtosecond hydration dynamics of ions and surfaces)
  • Soft condensed matter physics of self-assembly (Ex: polymers, polyelectrolytes, membranes, liquid crystals, colloids, nanoparticles)
TAT_surfaceantimicrobials
NOTABLE PUBLICATIONS
EDUCATION
  • B.S., California Institute of Technology, 1987
  • Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1994
  • Postdoctoral Research with Professor W.H. de Jeu, FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics, Amsterdam, 1994-1996
  • Postdoctoral Research with Professor C.R. Safinya, niversity of California, Santa Barbara, 1997 – 2000
AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
  • Elected Fellow, American Academy of Microbiologists, 2016
  • Director, Center for Early Bacterial Biofilm Studies, Human Frontiers Science Program, 2013
  • Fellow, American Physical Society, 2012
  • Racheff Faculty Scholar Award, 2008
  • Xerox Foundation Award for Senior Faculty Research, 2008
  • Prostate Cancer Foundation Competitive Award, 2007
  • Selection to the Frontiers of Engineering Symposium sponsored by the National Academy of Engineering, 2006
  • Xerox Foundation Award for Junior Faculty Research, 2005
  • Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, 2004
  • Burnett Teaching Award, 2003
  • Beckman Young Investigator Award, 2001
COURSES
  • Bioengr C104 / C204:  Physical chemistry of Biomacromolecules (Fall Quarter)
  • Bioengr C139A / C239A:  Biomolecular Materials Science I (Winter Quarter)
  • Bioengr C139B / C239B:  Biomolecular Materials Science II (Spring Quarter)