BACG2026 Speaker Profile

Jianing Li

PhD Student, Imperial College London

Jianing is a 3rd-year PhD student from the Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London. Having completed her undergraduate studies within the same department, she brings continuity and depth to her research pursuits. Her PhD is supervised by Prof. Jerry Heng, investigating the effect of protecting groups on the crystallisation of alanine homopeptides. Her work integrates experimental design, single-crystal growth, characterisation (PXRD, DSC/TGA, and HPLC), and molecular dynamics simulation to elucidate how protecting groups influence the thermodynamic properties, nucleation kinetics, and crystal packing of alanine-based short peptides. This fundamental study is essential for providing insights into the upstream selection of protecting groups and the downstream optimisation of purification.