About

Paul S. Weiss holds a UC Presidential Chair and is a distinguished professor of chemistry & biochemistry, bioengineering, and materials science & engineering at UCLA. His interdisciplinary research group includes chemists, physicists, biologists, materials scientists, mathematicians, bioengineers, electrical and mechanical engineers, computer scientists, clinicians, and physician scientists. They focus on exploring the atomic-scale chemical, physical, optical, mechanical, electronic, thermal, and spin properties of surfaces, interfaces, supramolecular, and biomolecular assemblies, aiming to understand the limits of miniaturization. Weiss develops new techniques to expand the applicability and chemical specificity of scanning probe microscopies, applying these tools to study self- and directed assembly, and molecular and nanoscale devices. His work advances nanofabrication to operate and test functional molecular assemblies, connecting to the chemical and biological worlds in areas such as neuroscience, gene editing, cancer immunotherapy, tissue engineering, cellular agriculture, and the microbiome. He has authored over 500 publications, holds over 40 patents, and has given more than 1000 invited, plenary, keynote, and named lectures. Weiss has served in various leadership roles, including director of the California NanoSystems Institute, and has been involved in startups across biotechnology, food security, energy, entertainment, and healthcare sectors. His numerous awards and honors include election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Chemical Society, the American Physical Society, and the National Academy of Inventors, among others.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Engineering
• Materials science
• Nanotechnology
• Electrical engineering
• Political Science
• Business
• Genetics
• Engineering management
• Chemical engineering
• Quantum mechanics
• Inorganic chemistry
• Embedded system
• Organic chemistry
• Physics
• Biology
• Engineering ethics
• Systems engineering
• Risk analysis (engineering)
• Data science
• Chemistry
• Ecology

Selected publications

• Self-powered in-stent restenosis diagnosis via magnetoelastic stents

  Nature Cardiovascular Research · 2026-02-16 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Pseudomonas aeruginosa senses exopolysaccharide trails using type IV pili and adhesins during biofilm formation

  Nature Microbiology · 2025-09-05 · 6 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Membrane repair following filtroporation-induced cell permeabilization

  iScience · 2025-12-05

  articleOpen access

  Mechanical disruption of cell membranes to enable intracellular delivery has been gaining traction as a methodology. Here, we show that a mechanical disruption-based strategy, filtroporation (FP), can be applied to edit the beta globin gene efficiently in human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. Gene expression analyses from RNA-Seq datasets demonstrate that electroporation (EP) yields greater transcriptional changes compared to FP globally, and gene pathway enrichment analyses suggest EP promotes stem cell differentiation while FP promotes cell division. Membrane repair occurs within 30 s of disruption by FP, and calcium signaling plays a key role in membrane repair in this context. Studies with fluorescently tagged membrane repair proteins, GRAF1, SNAP23, and CHMP4B, implicate the involvement of three mechanisms to reconstitute the cell barrier following FP. This work supports the evidence that the choice of intracellular delivery method affects transcriptional stem cell profile, and that membrane repair after mechanical disruption is a fast, multi-pathway process.

  PublisherDOI

• Pioneering the future of biomedical innovation: Voices and reflections on the third annual Terasaki Innovation Summit 2025

  Cell Biomaterials · 2025-05-01

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• 33 Unresolved Questions in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

  ACS Nano · 2025-09-04 · 22 citations

  articleOpen access

  Significant advances in science and engineering often emerge at the intersections of disciplines. Nanoscience and nanotechnology are inherently interdisciplinary, uniting researchers from chemistry, physics, biology, medicine, materials science, and engineering. This convergence has fostered novel ways of thinking and enabled the development of materials, tools, and technologies that have transformed both basic and applied research, as well as how we address critical societal challenges. In this Nano Focus, we pose and explore 33 questions whose answers could profoundly impact fields such as energy, electronics, the environment, optics, and medicine. These questions highlight the need for deeper foundational understanding, improved tools and techniques, and innovative applications─each with significant societal relevance. Together, they represent a global call-to-action for the scientific community.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Reflection on commentary “Miles to go before I seek: distance to the health facility and health care use among older adults in India”

  The Lancet Regional Health - Southeast Asia · 2025-10-05

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Boosting hydrogel conductivity via water-dispersible conducting polymers for injectable bioelectronics

  Nature Communications · 2025-04-22 · 54 citations

  articleOpen access

  Bioelectronic devices hold transformative potential for healthcare diagnostics and therapeutics. Yet, traditional electronic implants often require invasive surgeries and are mechanically incompatible with biological tissues. Injectable hydrogel bioelectronics offer a minimally invasive alternative that interfaces with soft tissue seamlessly. A major challenge is the low conductivity of bioelectronic systems, stemming from poor dispersibility of conductive additives in hydrogel mixtures. We address this issue by engineering doping conditions with hydrophilic biomacromolecules, enhancing the dispersibility of conductive polymers in aqueous systems. This approach achieves a 5-fold increase in dispersibility and a 20-fold boost in conductivity compared to conventional methods. The resulting conductive polymers are molecularly and in vivo degradable, making them suitable for transient bioelectronics applications. These additives are compatible with various hydrogel systems, such as alginate, forming ionically cross-linkable conductive inks for 3D-printed wearable electronics toward high-performance physiological monitoring. Furthermore, integrating conductive fillers with gelatin-based bioadhesive hydrogels substantially enhances conductivity for injectable sealants, achieving 250% greater sensitivity in pH sensing for chronic wound monitoring. Our findings indicate that hydrophilic dopants effectively tailor conducting polymers for hydrogel fillers, enhancing their biodegradability and expanding applications in transient implantable biomonitoring.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Chaos‐Assisted Production of Micro‐Architected Spheres (CAPAS) (Small 1/2025)

  Small · 2025-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Micro-Architected Spheres Chaos-assisted production of architected spheres (CAPAS) in dripping mode: Hydrogel precursors loaded with fluorescent particles are extruded through a Kenics static mixer, forming solid multilayered hydrogel spheres (0.6-3.5 mm) as they fall into a crosslinking bath. CAPAS drives high-throughput fabrication of microlayered spheres with customizable structure, enabling versatile applications in tissue engineering, chemical engineering, and material sciences. More in article number 2402221, Mario Moisés Alvarez, Grissel Trujillo-de Santiago and co-workers.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Imaging-guided deep tissue in vivo sound printing

  Science · 2025-05-08 · 48 citations

  articleOpen access

  Three-dimensional printing offers promise for patient-specific implants and therapies but is often limited by the need for invasive surgical procedures. To address this, we developed an imaging-guided deep tissue in vivo sound printing (DISP) platform. By incorporating cross-linking agent-loaded low-temperature-sensitive liposomes into bioinks, DISP enables precise, rapid, on-demand cross-linking of diverse functional biomaterials using focused ultrasound. Gas vesicle-based ultrasound imaging provides real-time monitoring and allows for customized pattern creation in live animals. We validated DISP by successfully printing near diseased areas in the mouse bladder and deep within rabbit leg muscles in vivo, demonstrating its potential for localized drug delivery and tissue replacement. DISP's ability to print conductive, drug-loaded, cell-laden, and bioadhesive biomaterials demonstrates its versatility for diverse biomedical applications.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Publisher Correction: On the issue of transparency and reproducibility in nanomedicine

  UNC Libraries · 2025-07-17

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• International Collaboration in Chemistry: Single-Molecule Imaging, Dynamics,and Electronics at Multivalent Host-Guest Surfaces

  NSF · $300k · 2011–2014

• New Families of Molecules and Designed Interactions for Supramolecular Assembly

  NSF · $490k · 2010–2013

• High-Throughput Nanometer-Scale Chemical Patterning for Nanomanufacturing

  NSF · $300k · 2016–2019

• Measurements and Optimization of the Function of Single Molecules and Supramolecular Assemblies

  NSF · $108k · 2010–2011

• Spin-Dependent Charge Transport through Chiral Assemblies

  NSF · $510k · 2020–2024

Frequent coauthors

• Oliver Reiser

  University of Regensburg

  215 shared

• Eric F. Bell

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  215 shared

• Dagobert D. Runes

  215 shared

• Niels Bohr

  215 shared

• R. W. Gerard

  Laboratoire des Sciences du Numérique de Nantes

  215 shared

• W Crozier

  215 shared

• C Ducasse

  University of California, Berkeley

  215 shared

• Henry Margenau

  214 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Chemistry

  UC Berkeley College of Chemistry

  1986

• S.M., Chemistry

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  1980

• S.B., Chemistry

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  1980

Awards & honors

• National Science Foundation (NSF) Presidential Young Investi…
• B. F. Goodrich Collegiate Inventors Award (1994)
• Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship (1995-97)
• American Chemical Society (ACS) Nobel Laureate Signature Awa…
• John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (1997)