Dr. Chong Cheng is a polymer scientist with research interests in the design, synthesis and applications of novel polymer materials. Currently his major research areas include polymers for therapeutic delivery, template synthesis using crystallized miniemulsions, and polymers with unique structures. The objective of his research on therapeutic delivery is to develop biodegradable and safe polymeric scaffolds to deliver drugs and genes for the treatment of cancers and other diseases. Research efforts are made to prepare and study 1) drug delivery systems based on biodegradable polymer-drug conjugates; 2) gene delivery systems using biodegradable cationic polymers; and 3) drug-gene co-delivery systems by employing biodegradable cationic polymeric nanostructures. His research on crystallized miniemulsions aims for providing a practical solution for the technique problem of dynamic instability of surfactants in emulsion systems. By using crystallized miniemulisons as the stabilized templates, precise template synthesis of nanomaterials, such as polymer nanocapsules, has been achieved.  Moreover, his group is also investigating model polymers with unprecedented molecular architectures or nanostructures, because these polymers are fundamentally interesting and the corresponding study can lead to in-depth understanding on structure-property relationship of polymer materials.   

Dr. Cheng received a BS degree in Polymer Materials in 1993 from Hefei University of Technology, and a MS degree in Polymer Materials in 1996 from Beijing University of Chemical Technology with thesis research mentored by Professor Hongmin Zhang. He obtained a PhD degree in (Polymer) Chemistry in 2003 from City University of New York with Professor Nan-Loh Yang as the dissertation advisor. He also learned significantly from Professor George Odian during his doctoral period. He conducted his postdoctoral research at Washington University in Saint Louis under the direction of Professor Karen L. Wooley during 2003-2007. He joined Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at University at Buffalo, the State University of New York, as an Assistant Professor in 2007. He was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in 2013. Dr. Cheng has published ~60 peer-reviewed research articles on polymer science and engineering.          

• PhD City University of New York Chemistry 2003
• MS Beijing University of Chemical Technology Polymer Materials 1996
• BS Hefei University of Technology Polymer Materials 1993