Alum Liangfang Zhang (PhD, '06, chemical and biomolecular engineering) has been awarded a 2026 MacArthur Fellowship, commonly known as a “genius grant,” from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
According to the MacArthur Foundation, the aim of the Fellows Program is to "identify extraordinarily creative individuals with a track record of excellence in a field of scholarship or area of practice, who demonstrate the ability to impact society in significant and beneficial ways through their pioneering work or the rigor of their contributions." The fellowship bestows a $800,000 stipend with no provisions, to be used as the researcher chooses.
Zhang's research focuses on engineering nanomaterials for targeted drug delivery, vaccines and other biomedical applications while minimizing unwanted side effects. He pioneered methods for coating nanoparticles with natural cell membranes to improve their performance, first demonstrating the approach using red blood cell membranes. That work showed that cell membrane-coated nanoparticles could mimic the properties of host cells, helping them evade immune detection and improving their ability to deliver therapeutic drugs in the body. More recently, his team has combined these cellular nanoparticles with microrobotic systems to enhance tissue penetration and drug uptake. Through these innovations, Zhang has helped advance the field of nanomedicine for the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases, cancer and immune disorders.
Zhang earned a bachelor’s degree (2000) and master’s degree (2002) from Tsinghua University, and a PhD from Illinois (2006) under the supervision of Steve Granick. From 2006-2008, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology then joined the faculty of the University of California, San Diego, where he is currently the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Chancellor Professor and chair of the Aiiso Yufeng Li Family Department of Chemical and Nano Engineering.
