Dr. Ai received his B.S. degree from Tsinghua University in 2003 and Ph.D. degree from the University of Alberta in 2008 (advisor: Robert E. Campbell). He received his postdoctoral training from 2008 to 2011 in the lab of Peter G. Schultz at Scripps Research. He then became an assistant professor at the University of California, Riverside. In 2017, he moved to the University of Virginia (UVA) Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics as a tenured associate professor. He was promoted to professor in 2023. He is a resident faculty member of the Center for Membrane and Cell Physiology. He is affiliated with the Department of Chemistry and Department of Biomedical Engineering, and the UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center. His lab uses interdisciplinary approaches in biophysics, chemical biology, molecular engineering, and optical imaging to study and manipulate complex biological systems, with a focus on the development of novel molecular biosensors to peer into cells and organisms to dissect biological pathways related to redox signaling, metabolism, and neuronal activity. Dr. Ai received the Hellman Fellows Award in 2013, the National Science Foundation CAREER award in 2014, the CAPA Distinguished Junior Faculty Award in 2016, the American Chemical Society Toxicology Young Investigators Award in 2017, and the Pinn Scholars Award in 2023.
Email: huiwang.ai@virginia.edu, or ha8m@virginia.edu
Office Location: Pinn Hall, Room 4020