Curriculum vitae

Work Experience

• Summer Research Fellow, Rockefeller University - May 2026 to August 2026
• Platform Chemistry Intern, Enveda Biosciences - May 2025 to August 2025
• Summer Research Fellow, Cross-Disciplinary Science Institute, Gettysburg College - Summer 2018, 2019
• Research Assistant, Department of Chemistry, Gettysburg College - January 2018 to May 2021
• Resident Coordinator, Residential Life Office, Gettysburg College - September 2020 to May 2021
• Resident Assistant, Residential Life Office, Gettysburg College - September 2018 to May 2020

Education

• State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY.
  • Ph.D. Computational Chemistry, Bio Simulation Lab
  • Advisor: Hung T. Nguyen
• Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA.
  • B.S. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
  • Advisor: Tim Funk
  • Thesis: “Synthesis of cyanuric chloride-based synthetic lipids”

Certificates

• Schrödinger - Virtual Screening and Machine Learning. Nov 2025.
• Schrödinger - Free Energy Calculations for Drug Design with FEP+. Oct 2025.

Publications

(1) Baidya, L.; Zhang, H.; Nguyen, H. T. Poly(ADP-Ribose) (PAR) Exhibits Ion-Dependent Structural Properties Distinct from RNA. Nucleic Acids Res 2026, 54 (6), gkag265. pdf

(2) Zhang, H.; Maity, H.; Nguyen T. H. Temperature-Dependent Ion Migration Underlies Sequence-Specific RNA Collapse. biorxiv. pdf

(3) Maity, H.; Zhang, H.; Thirumalai, D.; Nguyen, H. T. RNA Structural Complexity Dictates Its Ion Atmosphere. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2025, 8393–8402. pdf

(4) Zhang, H.; Fang, M.; Lin, Q. Photo-Activatable Reagents for Bioorthogonal Ligation Reactions. Top Curr Chem (Z) 2023, 382 (1), 1. pdf

(5) Fang, M.; Kumar, G. S.; Racioppi, S.; Zhang, H.; Rabb, J. D.; Zurek, E.; Lin, Q. Hydrazonyl Sultones as Stable Tautomers of Highly Reactive Nitrile Imines for Fast Bioorthogonal Ligation Reaction. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023, 145 (18), 9959–9964. pdf

Presentations

• Zhang, H.; Nguyen, H.T. RNA Collapse and Condensate Formation Tuned by Temperature and Counterions. Poster Presentation. Biophysical Society Meeting, San Francisco, CA, Feb 2026.

• Zhang, H.; Nguyen, H.T. Coarse-grained Simulation of ssRNA. Oral Presentation. MDAnalysis UGM, Tucson, AZ, Nov 2025.

• Zhang, H.; Nguyen, H.T. Temperature-Dependent Ion Migration Underlies Sequence-Specific RNA Collapse. Poster Presentation. Rustbelt RNA Conference, Huron, Ohio, Oct 2025.

• Zhang, H.; Nguyen, H.T. Ion-dependent Structural Ensemble and Phase Separation Propensity of Single-stranded RNA. Poster Presentation. Computational Medicinal Chemistry School, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Cambridge, MA, September 2025.

• Zhang, H.; Nguyen, H.T. Ion-dependent Structural Ensemble and Phase Separation Propensity of Single-stranded RNA. Poster Presentation. Academic Excellence Celebration, Buffalo, NY, May 2025.

• Zhang, H.; Nguyen, H.T. Coarse-grained Simulation of RNA. Invited Lecture. Molecular Dynamics Simulations (Prof. Viviana Monje), Buffalo, NY, April 2025.

• Zhang, H.; Nguyen, H.T. Ion-dependent Structural Ensembles and Phase Separation of Single-stranded RNA. Oral Presentation. Buffalo RNA Group, Buffalo, NY, March 2025.

• Zhang, H.; Nguyen, H.T. Ion-dependent Structural Ensembles and Phase Separation of Single-stranded RNA. Poster Presentation. Biophysical Society Meeting, Los Angeles, CA, Feb 2025.

• Zhang, H.; Nguyen, H.T. Ion-driven RNA Condensate Simulation. Poster Presentation. Biophysical Society Meeting, Los Angeles, CA, Feb 2025.

• Zhang, H.; Nguyen, H.T. Ion-dependent Structural Ensemble of Single-stranded RNA. Poster Presentation. New York State RNA Conference, Canandaigua, NY, Oct 2024. (Best Poster Award.)

• Zhang, H.; Nguyen, H.T. Parameterization of Coarse-grained ssRNA Force Field. Poster Presentation. Buffalo Graduate Student Symposium, Buffalo, NY, May 2024.

Teaching

• Computational Chemistry - Spring 2025
• Organic Chemistry - Spring 2024
• Physical Chemistry for Life Sciences - Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2024
• Honors Organic Chemistry - Fall 2022
• General Chemistry - Fall 2021, Fall 2025

Honors & Awards

• John Rys Fellowship, University at Buffalo - Summer 2026
  Awarded; declined in favor of research appointment at Rockefeller University
• Employee of the Month, Enveda Biosciences - Summer 2025
• First Place, Summer Hackathon (Customized Bruker timsTOF Scheduler), Enveda Biosciences - Summer 2025
• Academic Excellence Award, State University of New York - Spring 2025
• John B. Zinn Chemistry Research Award, Gettysburg College - Spring 2021