Principal Investigator

Yulong Zhong is from Tianjin, China. He received his PhD degree in organic chemistry from Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China, in 2016. He then joined Dr. Gong’s group as a postdoctoral associate and got promoted to a research assistant professor in 2023. He is currently focusing on the synthesis and study of multiturn helical aromatic oligoamides as novel hosts for guest binding, catalysis and as transmembrane channels for ion and molecular transport.

Rashid Puthanpurayil is from India and received his Ph.D. from CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory in India. His doctoral thesis focused on Supramolecular and Medicinal Chemistry. As a postdoctoral associate, he has joined Dr. Gong’s group at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Currently, his research is focused on the synthesis, structural features and applications of novel helical/cyclic Aromatic Oligoamides.

Danbo got his PhD from Qingdao University of Science and Technology in 2023. Subsequently, he joined the Prof. Gong's group as a postdoctoral associate. His research focuses on developing and studying aromatic pentaamide macrocycles, which exhibit a high affinity for binding anions and have potential applications in anion transport.

Jillian is from Albany, NY and received her bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from SUNY Oswego in 2018. She joined Dr. Gong’s lab in 2018 and her research is focused on the synthesis of small molecules for the purpose of intracellular cryoprotection of cell lines.

Christina is from Syracuse, NY and received her B.S in chemistry from SUNY Oswego. She joined the Gong lab in 2021 where she majorly focuses on synthesis and characterization of foldamers. Her research is about the catalytic abilities and host-guest binding that our different foldamers possess. She is also studying a newly synthesized heptamer macrocycle which may show to have unique characteristics. The main techniques she uses are NMR and ITC to analyze and study the properties of our lab’s foldamers.

Cadnel Detchou is a dual citizen of Benin and USA. He received his BA in Biochemistry at Westminster College. He joined the research group of Professor Bing Gong in 2013 where he worked on cyclic aromatic tetraurea macrocyles and studied their binding properties with DNA. He received his Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry from the Gong lab in 2018. He is currently volunteering his time at the Gong lab to improve the design and binding properties of the tetraurea macrocycles with DNA. He is also working full time as a bioanalytical principal investigator at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.

Ruikai was born in Baoji, a historical city in China. After obtaining the BS Degree from Sichuan University in Organic Chemistry and the MS degree from Kansas State University in Biochemistry, he joined Professor Bing Gong’s group at the University at Buffalo, SUNY, working on the host-guest interaction and graduated with a PhD Degree in August in 2021. After that, he served as a postdoctoral fellow conducting related research on supramolecular chemistry at the same group. He is currently a senior organic chemist at AstaTech Inc.

Robert is from Lake Zurich, Illinois and received his BS in chemistry from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He joined Dr. Gong’s group in 2017 and his research focused on studying the supramolecular chemistry of aromatic oligoamides. He received his PhD in medicinal chemistry in 2022. Currently, he is a Senior Scientist at Abbott Laboratories.

Tom Sobiech received his PhD in chemistry from the University at Buffalo in 2023. Throughout his graduate career his primary focus was in supramolecular chemistry. Within this field he made contributions to understanding foldamers, with an emphasis on multiturn aromatic oligoamide foldamers and their corresponding macrocycles. His dissertation details novel research into the host guest chemistry of these molecules, primarily the ultrahigh binding affinity exhibited by multiturn aromatic oligoamide foldamers with cationic guests and the extremely strong positive cooperativity observed between cyclic aromatic oligoamides with cationic guests. Tom is currently employed as a Scientist at Intertek, where he manages one of their NMR facilities.

Victoria graduated with a Master's degree in Medicinal Chemistry in December 2023 at the University at Buffalo. Her research in the Gong Lab was on Cytotoxicity and Cryopreservation.