Yuping Shi

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT YUPING SHI

I received DPhil from Oxford University (supervisors: Prof. Donal Bradley CBE FRS and Prof. Stephen Morris), with my whole Ph.D. study supported by the prestigious, full-cost Hong Kong Jockey Club Graduate Scholarship at the University of Oxford (known as JC-Oxford Scholar). I also served as a Junior Student Tutor in Oxford University St Cross College during the last two years of Ph.D. study, and became a proud recipient of Rank Prize Optoelectronic Covid-19 Response Grant in 2021. My Oxford D.Phil Thesis has pioneered in exploring and utilizing high-quality photo-alignment and spatial patterning of polymer chain orientation using both the macroscopic linearly polarised light excitation and the two-photon femtosecond direct (infrared) laser writing technique. We expect such kind of fundamental research enable greater design flexibility to enrich/disrupt the established and emerging technologies, e.g. light-harvesting, polarised LEDs, rigid/flexible thin-film transistors/thermoelectrics, optical circuits, artificial photosynthesis, etc. After completing my Oxford study, I moved to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) at University of California, Berkeley during the Convid pandemic time, joining the renowned research group of Prof. Graham Fleming (US NAS, FRS) as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow to expand my expertise in the field of multidimensional ultrafast spectroscopy for the study of charge/energy transfer dynamics in synthetic semiconductors and naturally occurring photosynthetic proteins. Thereafter, the state-of-the-art multiple-dimensional electronic-vibrational spectroscopy and quantum light spectroscopy, together with various established time-resolved spectroscopic techniques, have being utilized in my research projects towards elucidating the involved photo-biochemical dynamics and quantum effects. Currently working at Max Planck Institute, I focus on developing red-shifted rigid conjugated polymers as highly efficient photobiocatalysts and selective artificial photoenzymes in a rich range of applications, with prominent examples including photobiocatalysis in artificial/living cells, photodynamic therapy, biosensing, CO2 fixation, flexible electronics, and single-molecular quantum engineering.