We are happy to introduce WISE Postdoc Jiayao Duan, one of our speakers at the Welcome Meeting conference, August 24-25.

Jiayao got his bachelor’s degree in material engineering at East China University of Science and Technology and completed his PhD at Sun Yat-sen University in China, where he worked on the design and synthesis of organic electrochemical transistor (OECT) materials.

At Welcome Meeting 2026, he will talk about his current WISE project, which focuses on developing degradable conjugated polymers for transient bioelectronics. The idea is to create materials that work well during operation but can safely degrade when they are no longer needed. It’s an exciting area that combines high-performance electronics with sustainability.

Could you share a word of encouragement for the new WISE PhD students and postdocs?

Don’t be afraid of failure. Research requires a lot of patience because things often don’t work the first time – or even the tenth time.

Be willing to try new ideas and explore different possibilities. Sometimes the opportunities that have the biggest impact on your career come from the moments you least expect. Stay curious, keep going, and trust the process.

How has being part of WISE influenced your research or collaborations so far?

One of the biggest impacts of WISE on my research has been the opportunity to join Prof. Erica Zeglio’s group. My previous work was mainly focused on materials, but being part of the group has exposed me to many new perspectives, from biology to device fabrication and bioelectronic applications.

It has also changed the way I think about research. Instead of focusing only on performance, I now spend much more time thinking about how materials can be functionalized and made more sustainable, which has become a central theme in my current work.