Tan Weihong


Tan Weihong is a Chinese chemist. He is the University of Florida Distinguished Professor, V. T. and Louise Jackson Professor of Chemistry at the University of Florida, and also the Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Professor of Biology, and Director of the State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics at Hunan University in China. He was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2015 and The World Academy of Sciences in 2016.

Early life and education

Tan was born on May 12, 1960 in Yiyang, Hunan, China. He received his B.S. degree in Chemistry from Hunan Normal University in 1982, his M.S. degree in Physical Chemistry from the Institute of Coal Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1985, and his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 1992 under the supervision of Dr. Raoul Kopelman. In 1994–1995, he conducted his postdoctoral research at Ames Laboratory where he worked with Dr. Edward S. Yeung.

Research

The main focus of Tan's group is in the field of DNA aptamers, molecular recognition and nano biosensors. The Tan group has pioneered the Whole-Cell Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment method. This fundamental tool is used to select aptamer molecules against specific cell-lines for a wide range of applications. A variety of high sensitive aptamer-based molecular designs have been developed by Tan group and contributed to theranostic and bioanalysis studies.
Tan has served on many national and international research program committees, and also several Editorial and Advisory Boards, including ACS Nano and Analytical Chemistry.
Tan has helped develop a test for COVID-19 that produced results in as little as 40 minutes.

Awards and honors