Shuming Nie’s research is primarily in the areas of cancer nanomedicine, biomedical engineering, and image-guided cancer surgery. Major academic achievements include the discovery of plasmonic nanoparticles that are able to amplify the efficiencies of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) by 14-15 orders of magnitude, his work on water-soluble semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) for biomedical applications, and the development of smart nanoparticles and spectroscopic instrumentation for image-guided cancer surgery. The Nie lab has extensive experience in developing spectroscopic instrumentation and tumor imaging probes, and in translating new technologies to clinical applications. In collaboration with Dr. Sunil Singhal at the University of Pennsylvania, Nie conducted seven clinical trials, established one of the largest and most active intraoperative imaging programs, and enrolled more than 300 cancer patients for image-guided surgery in both the visible and near-infrared windows.
Nie, PhD, holds the Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering, and is a professor of bioengineering, chemistry, electrical, and computer engineering. He is also affiliated with the Beckman Institute, the Micro/Nanotechnology Lab, and the Carle Woese Institute for Genomic Biology. Dr. Nie is one of the most highly cited scholars in the world, and his academic work has been cited over 63,000 times.