Principal Investigator
The most important skill for a researcher is not technical ability. It’s taste. The ability to identify interesting and tractable problems, and recognize important ideas when they show up.
This can’t be taught directly. It’s cultivated through curiosity and broad reading.
—— François Chollet
| Shiming Zhang B.Sc., M.Sc. (Jilin); Ph.D. (Montreal); Postdoc (UCLA) |
His research seeks a fundamental understanding of charge transport across soft, wet bioelectronic interfaces through the study of organic mixed ionic–electronic conductors (OMIECs), and translates these insights into new mixed-conducting devices for soft electronics, wearable biosensing, and biocomputing. This interdisciplinary program spans materials design and discovery, device fabrication, advanced characterization methodologies, and theoretical modelling. The group is known for the discovery of macroscopic semiconductor phenomena in three-dimensional soft materials and the invention of 3D hydrogel transistors capable of hosting living cells (Science, 2025, cover article). This “living transistor” technology extends engineered control over biology from the molecular scale (gene editing) to the cellular scale (cell programming) (Nature Materials, 2026). This line of work has received national and international recognition: it was named one of China’s Top 10 Major Scientific Advances of 2025 by Science and Technology Review, and selected as a Falling Walls Science Breakthrough Finalist 2026 in Engineering and Technology. This research direction is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) through the Young Scientists Fund (Type A) [國家青年科學基金項目（A類）]. He has published 24 papers as corresponding author in leading journals, including Science, Nature Electronics, and Science Advances, alongside invited reviews and perspectives in Nature, Nature Materials, and Nature Reviews Electrical Engineering. He serves on the Biomedical Devices Committee of the IEEE Electron Devices Society and on the International Advisory Boards of Advanced Electronic Materials and Advanced Biosensors. A frequent keynote and invited speaker, he also organizes symposia on wearable bioelectronics and gel electronics at IEEE and MRS conferences. |
Postdoc Research Fellow
Dr Ka Hing Chu (Albert) studied Materials Science & Engineering and graduated with an MEng at Imperial College London. He subsequently joined the Brain Physics Laboratory of the University of Cambridge, where he received his PhD in Clinical Neurosciences. His research focuses on developing computational models of fluid flow inside the skull, and its mechanical effects on the brain and cerebral implants.
Lab task: Lab coordinator
Dr Heng Zhang received his B.Eng. and M.Eng. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Automation from Taiyuan University of Technology, and his Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Hong Kong. During his Ph.D. studies, he worked as a Visiting Ph.D. student at Imperial College London for six months. His research interests include biomedical sensing technologies, magnetically actuated capsule robotics, wireless power transfer, and bio-integrated electronic devices. He will be working on wireless implantable bioelectronics for healthcare.
Dr Binbin Cui received his B.Sc. degree in Applied Chemistry from Nankai University and his Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Hong Kong. His research lies at the intersection of wearable healthcare technologies, functional hydrogel engineering, and flexible bioelectronics, with an emphasis on bridging materials innovation and practical device applications. His current work focuses on advancing the commercial translation of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technologies and engineering high-performance semiconducting hydrogels for next-generation bioelectronic devices.
Dr Xinxin Huang obtained his Ph.D. in Chemistry at Nanjing University, where his doctoral research centered on conductive and biomedical hydrogels for sensors and wound dressings. He previously worked as a visiting postdoctoral fellow at NTU, Singapore. He is currently a joint postdoctoral researcher at NJU and HKU, with research interests in developing hydrogel semiconductor materials towards high performance flexible and stretchable OECTs.
PhD Students
Yilin Yang received her B.Eng. and M.Eng, both in Biomedical Engineering from Sun Yat-sen University. She is currently a Ph.D. student at WISE Research Group working on brain-machine interfacing with soft and implantable bioelectronic systems.
Lab task: Innowing representative
Yan Wang received her B.Sc. at Nankai University in Chemistry. She was a research assistant at WISE between Sept 2021 and April 2022. She is currently a Ph.D. student at WISE working on the processing of soft conducting polymers for high-performance soft OECTs.
Lab task: Finance and orders
Xinran Zhang received her B.Eng. and M.Eng, both in Biomedical Engineering from Jilin University. She is currently a Ph.D. student at WISE Research Group working on the synthesis and fabrication of biosensing electrodes for wearable molecular detection.
Lab task: Quartzy record and consumables
Hao Huang received his B.Eng. and M.Eng. in Chemical Engineering from Tianjin University. He is currently a Ph.D. student at the WISE Research Group working on HK WISE-Scope for wearable brain-machine interfacing.
Lab task: Lab manager, general
Wei Huang received his B.Sc. in Computer Science from Beihang University. He is currently a Ph.D. student in the WISE Group, working on data processing and control of wearable systems.
Task: Software and AI platforms
Ivo Pang received B.Eng. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Hong Kong. He is currently a Ph.D. student at WISE group working on stretchable wearable devices.
Lab task: Printers and Lasers
Meiru An received her B.Sc. in Chemistry and M.Sc. in Advanced Material Science from University College London. She will join WISE as a Ph.D. student in Sept. 2024 to work on biophysical wearable devices.
Lab task: Assist Ivo Pang
Xiaonan Chen received his M.Eng. in Materials and Chemical Engineering from Sichuan University. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate at WISE Research Group working on soft OECTs for wearable bioelectronic applications.
Lab task: Lab manager, chemicals and materials
Rui Li received his B.Eng. in Electronic Science and Technology from Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He is currently a Ph.D. student at WISE Research Group, working on advancing wearable healthcare through integrated edge computing systems with in-sensor and near-sensor computing.
Lab task: Assist Hao Huang
Xiaolong Li received his B.Eng in Electrical Engineering from Zhejiang University and M.Sc. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Hong Kong. He is currently a Ph.D. student in the WISE Research Group, working on brain-computer interfaces and neural modulation for next-generation bioelectronics applications.
Lab task: Hardware and circuits
Yixuan Wang received her B.S. in Statistics and Data Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and M.A. in Statistics from Columbia University. She is currently a Ph.D. student at WISE Research Group working on artificial intelligence and advanced computational methods for soft and implantable bioelectronic systems.
Lab task: Assist Wei Huang
Haowei Ruan received his M.Eng. in Mechanics from Southern University of Science and Technology. He will join WISE Research Group as a Ph.D. student in Sept. 2026, with a focus on the development of soft OECTs for advanced flexible electronics and wearable bioelectronic applications.
Wei Ren received his B.Eng. in Textile Engineering from Taiyuan University of Technology and his M.Eng. in Materials Processing Engineering from Sichuan University. He will join the WISE Research Group in summer 2026 as a Ph.D. student, focusing on hydrogel semiconductors for wearable bioelectronic applications.
Teaching Assistant
Wensheng Lin received his B.Eng. in Nuclear Engineering and Technology from the University of South China and his M.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering from Guangzhou Medical University. He is currently a teaching assistant in the group, responsible for cell and biological experiments. Wensheng is dedicated to the research and development of Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) systems, focusing on sensors, enzyme immobilization, and hydrogel materials for enhanced biocompatibility and long-term stability.
WISE Alumni (Ph.D. and above)
Faculty Positions:
| Name | Type | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Shilei Dai | Postdoc -> Professor at Tongji University |
| 2026 | Albert Chu | Postdoc -> Lecturer at HKU Medical School |
| 2025 | Dingyao Liu | WISE PhD -> Postdoc at Oxford & Cambridge (with faculty offers) |
| 2025 | Dingchen Wang | WISE PhD -> Assistant Professor at Macau University of Science and Technology |
| 2024 | Shaocong Wang | WISE PhD -> Assistant Professor at Peking University |
| Name | Type | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Binbin Cui | WISE PhD -> WISE Postdoc |
| 2026 | Suo Tu | Postdoc -> Postdoc at Technical University of Munich |
| 2025 | Xinyu Tian | WISE PhD -> Co-Founder at BioEcho |
| 2025 | Jing Bai | WISE PhD -> Co-founder at Freesub |
| 2024 | Xuecheng He | Postdoc -> UCSD Postdoc |