The International Editorial Board of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s flagship journal Nanoscale annually selects outstanding early-career scientists from around the world who have demonstrated exceptional achievements in nanoscience, nanotechnology, or related fields during their independent research stage, awarding them the honor of “Nanoscale Emerging Investigator.” This recognition highlights researchers who have made significant contributions early in their academic careers and acknowledges their exceptional potential to “shape the future direction of nanoscience and nanotechnology,” positioning them as rising stars at the global forefront of the field. All awardees are nominated by international experts and rigorously reviewed and selected by the Royal Society of Chemistry, making this distinction highly competitive and internationally representative.
This year’s Nanoscale Emerging Investigators span the globe, reflecting an intense level of competition: 33 from the United States, 79 from China, 9 from Japan, 8 from Singapore, 7 from South Korea, 6 from the United Kingdom, 11 from India, 5 from Italy, 3 from Hong Kong, 3 from the Netherlands, 2 from Germany, 2 from Australia, and 1 each from Taiwan, Canada, Austria, and Turkey.
Dr. Wei Chen, Assistant Professor at our center, has long focused on nanomedicine and drug delivery technologies. His research includes siRNA/mRNA delivery, cell engineering, therapeutic biomaterials, and biomedical engineering, with applications in the treatment of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and inflammation-related disorders, as well as in immunoregulation and cell/gene therapies. His laboratory is dedicated to developing innovative nanomedicine delivery platforms to overcome current bottlenecks in disease treatment. In particular, his team is pioneering macrophage engineering strategies through nanotechnology, with the goal of advancing next-generation precision macrophage therapies and laying a strong foundation for future clinical applications. Owing to the pioneering nature and translational potential of his work, Dr. Wei Chen has been honored with the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Nanoscale Emerging Investigator Award, making him one of the few scholars worldwide to receive this prestigious recognition.
Dr. Chen expressed his sincere gratitude to the Royal Society of Chemistry for this honor, as well as to Academia Sinica, the Genomics Research Center, and the National Science and Technology Council for their support in funding, equipment, and research facilities. He hopes that his laboratory can inspire and train more young scholars to pursue interdisciplinary research spanning biomedical engineering, materials chemistry, nanomedicine, and the life sciences. Dr. Chen warmly welcomes motivated students who are interested in his laboratory’s work to join and contribute to advancing Taiwan’s basic and applied biomedical research and innovation.
The award announcement has been featured in the “Nanoscale profiles: contributors to the 2024 Emerging Investigators collection” published by Nanoscale. Full details can be found on the Royal Society of Chemistry website: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2024/nr/d4nr90119c
