Dingran Chang
- Assistant Professor
- CHEMISTRY
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Biography —
Dr. Dingran received his B.Sc. from China Pharmaceutical University in 2012 and moved to Canada for graduate studies. He earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from McMaster University in 2018 under the mentorship of Prof. Yingfu Li, where he developed functional nucleic acid–based biosensors for detecting bacterial infections. He then joined Prof. Shana O. Kelley’s group at the University of Toronto as a postdoctoral fellow, developing high-dimensional aptamer selection technologies. In 2023, he moved to the United States to serve as a Research Assistant Professor in Biomedical Engineering at Northwestern University, continuing work on molecular sensors for continuous health monitoring. In 2025, he joined the University of Kansas as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry.
Research —
My research focuses on developing functional nucleic acids (FNAs), including aptamers and DNAzymes, as programmable molecular tools for biosensing, diagnostics, and biomedical applications. We engineer nucleic acid affinity reagents with tunable binding properties and catalytic functions. By integrating molecular engineering, high-throughput selection, and advanced analytical technologies, our goal is to create next-generation platforms for sensitive and selective molecular detection, enabling applications in disease diagnostics, biomarker monitoring, and precision medicine.