The Junfeng Chen Research Group focuses on the development of next-generation polymer materials to address critical challenges in human health, catalysis, and sustainability. Our research centers on three major themes, characterized by a focus on high structural precision and high-throughput methodologies:

Discrete Oligomers/Polymers as Biomaterials
Traditional synthetic polymers are typically polydisperse, resulting in variability in molecular weight, composition, sequence, and conformation—factors that complicate their efficacy and safety in biological applications. We aim to develop discrete oligomer and polymer materials for applications such as antibacterial therapies and cell surface engineering, where molecular precision is key.

High-Throughput Polymer Synthesis, Purification, and Characterization
High-throughput strategies enable the rapid development of polymer libraries to uncover structure–activity relationships. Our research emphasizes advancing the most challenging aspects of this workflow—paralleled purification and characterization of polymers—thereby accelerating the discovery of functional materials.