About
Dr. Sun earned his Ph.D. (1989) in physical organic chemistry and photochemistry with Prof. Jack Saltiel at Florida State University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, first with Prof. Josef Michl (1989-91) studying novel polymeric materials and then with Prof. Marye Anne Fox (1991-92) investigating materials for green energies. Dr. Sun joined Clemson faculty in 1992 as an assistant professor in chemistry, and he was promoted to full professor in 1999 and named Frank Henry Leslie Chair Professor in 2003. Dr. Sun’s research focus at Clemson has been on the fundamental development and technological applications of nanomaterials, especially carbon nanomaterials. Among healthcare related works of his research group are the invention and use of high-performance yet benign and nontoxic nanomaterials for bioimaging, with an emphasis on the early detection of breast cancers, and for visible/natural light-activated antimicrobial functions against viruses and bacteria, especially multidrug-resistant pathogens. Dr. Sun’s research group and collaborators have published more than 350 peer- reviewed papers in scientific journals and books.
Visit Dr. Sun's Faculty Profile.
How their research is transforming health care
Dr. Sun's research interest and activities relevant to healthcare have been in the development of carbon-based/derived nanomaterials for their uses as high-performance yet benign and nontoxic bioimaging probes. The materials platform is primarily the carbon-based quantum dots (QDs), which are small carbon nanoparticles with surface organic functionalization. These carbon-based QDs or carbon dots (CDots) exhibit bright and colorful fluorescence emissions, competitive in performance to the established conventional semiconductor QDs, but without the known prohibitive toxicity issues of the latter. The nanostructure of CDots is also advantageous in the coupling with other nontoxic nanomaterials, such as those with excellent magnetic characteristics, for dual or multimodality bioimaging probes. Among other ongoing research efforts of Dr. Sun's group, they have found that specifically designed and synthesized CDots can readily be activated by visible, natural, or even ambient room light to exhibit uniquely effective antimicrobial activities. They have demonstrated in peer-reviewed publications and research reports on their killing multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens, norovirus, and a commonly used surrogate of SARS-CoV-2. One of their current focuses is on the use of CDots and related nanomaterials in antimicrobial “self-cleaning” surfaces for various food safety and healthcare applications.
Health Research Expertise Keywords
Faculty Scholar, Probes, bioimaging, in vitro, in vivo, Dual and multimodality bioimaging, Ultra-small fluorescence probes for cell imaging, Fluorescence labeling of stem cells, Highly effective antimicrobial agents, Inactivation of multidrug-resistant pathogens, Effective and nontoxic agents for photodynamic therapies
