Jinchao Lou, Assistant Professor

Assistant Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry

Office: 407 Coulter Hall
Phone: 662-915-1938
Email: jlou@olemiss.edu

EDUCATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
B.S., Northwest Normal University, China, 2016
Ph.D., University of Tennessee at Knoxville, 2022
Post-Doc, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, 2022-2024
Assistant Professor, University of Mississippi, 2024-Present

RESEARCH INTERESTS
Bio-organic chemistry, chemical biology, nanomaterials, drug delivery, synthetic organic chemistry

RESEARCH OVERVIEW
The emerging fields of nanomedicine and biomaterials have the potential to significantly impact human health by improving the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases. However, despite significant attention and investment, the clinical adoption of nanoparticle-based therapeutic and imaging agents faces substantial biological, immunological, and translational challenges. Our research group aims to address these critical challenges in nanomedicine and biomaterials by developing responsive materials that can effectively navigate complex biological environments through organic chemistry approaches. We strive to contribute significantly to the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, ultimately improving human health and well-being.

Our current research interests include: 1) developing multi-stimuli-responsive peptide-based programmable materials to enhance the responsiveness and target specificity of nanomedicine; 2) creating short and ultrashort peptide small molecule materials that have the unique property of self-assembling in situ upon exposure to specific stimuli, thereby amplifying nanomedicine tissue penetration ability; 3) developing chemical biology tools to better understand peptidoglycan synthesis in various bacteria cells, ultimately aiming to improve the efficacy of bacteria-targeted therapeutics.