Dr. Ri Wu is an Assistant Professor (tenure-track) with a joint appointment at the Advanced Light Source Science Center and the Department of Chemistry at Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech). He received his bachelor’s degree from Qian Weichang College, Shanghai University, in 2013, under the supervision of Researcher Zhen Zhou. He then earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Chemistry at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2019, advised by Professor De-Hua Chen. From 2019 to 2025, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher and later a Senior Scientist at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, collaborating with Professor Renato Zenobi. He joined Southern University of Science and Technology in February 2025. His primary research focuses on the development of mass spectrometry instrumentation and methodologies for the structural analysis of biological macromolecules.

Research Introduction

The precise structural analysis of intact proteins is a cornerstone of modern life sciences and biopharmaceutical research. High-end mass spectrometry has emerged as an indispensable tool for this purpose. Advanced structural techniques, including native mass spectrometry, top-down mass spectrometry, and ion mobility spectrometry, provide critical insights into the complex mechanisms of protein structure, function, and interactions. This synergy fuels continuous innovation in both mass spectrometry instrumentation and its biological applications. 

Building on this, our research is dedicated to the independent development of various high-end mass spectrometry instruments and the creation of novel structural mass spectrometry techniques, with a special focus on the hyphenation of mass spectrometry with fluorescence spectroscopy. Our work includes the development of instrumentation and methods for combined mass spectrometry-fluorescence spectroscopy, native mass spectrometry, ion mobility spectrometry, and ultra-high-resolution Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometry. These efforts aim to provide a more comprehensive, sensitive, and in-situ characterization technique for analyzing the conformations of proteins and their complexes under near-physiological conditions.

In the past five years, we have published over 20 papers as the first or corresponding authors in journals including J. Am. Chem. Soc. (4), Nat. Commun., Anal. Chem. (2), and J. Phys. Chem. Lett. He has also been granted 8 Chinese invention patents.

Funded Projects

1. Youth Scientific Fund Project, National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
(Principal Investigator, Grant No. 22504052, 2026-2028)

Honors and Awards

· 2025 Excellence Award (Type B), National Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Chinese Students Abroad

· 2019 First Prize, Science and Technology Award of the China Association for Instrumental Analysis (CAIA)

· 2018 Best Poster Award, International Mass Spectrometry Conference (IMSC 2018) (11 recipients out of over 1,000 posters)

· 2018 Nico Nibbering Student Travel Award, International Mass Spectrometry Foundation (IMSF)

Academic Services

· Member of the Scientific Committee, International Mass Spectrometry Conference (IMSC 2026)

· Reviewer for journals such as Angewandte Chemie, Advanced Science, Analytical Chemistry, and The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters.

Publications

[1] Lukas R. Benzenberg, Elena Giaretta, Ri Wu*, Despoina Svingou, Renato Zenobi*. Microsolvation of Charged Sites In Vacuo: Are Native Protein Structures Retained When ChargeBackbone Interactions are Suppressed?. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2025, 147, 18, 15253–15260.

[2] Lukas R. Benzenberg, Paul Katzberger, Ri Wu*, Jonas B. Metternich, Sereina Riniker*, Renato Zenobi*. Probing the Stability of a β-Hairpin Scaffold after Desolvation. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2024, 15, 19, 5041–5046.

[3] Ri Wu#, Despoina Svingou#, Jonas B. Metternich, Lukas R. Benzenberg, Renato Zenobi*. Transition Metal Ion FRET-Based Probe to Study Cu(II)-Mediated Amyloid-β Ligand Binding. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 146, 3, 2102–2112.

[4] Jonas B. Metternich, Paul Katzberger, Anna S. Kamenik, Prince Tiwari, Ri Wu*, Sereina Riniker*, Renato Zenobi*. Influence of the Fluorophore Mobility on Distance Measurements by Gas-Phase FRET. J. Phys. Chem. A 2023, 127, 27, 5620–5628.

[5] Ri Wu#, Jonas B. Metternich#, Anna S. Kamenik#, Prince Tiwari, Julian A. Harrison, Dennis Kessen, Hasan Akay, Lukas R. Benzenberg, T.-W. Dominic Chan, Sereina Riniker*, Renato Zenobi*. Determining the Gas-Phase Structures of α-Helical Peptides from Shape, Microsolvation, and Intramolecular Distance Data. Nat. Commun. 2023, 14, 2913.

[6] Ri Wu#*, Lukas R Benzenberg#, Despoina Svingou, Renato Zenobi*. The Structure of Cyclic Neuropeptide Somatostatin and Octapeptide Octreotide in the Presence of Copper Ions: Insights from Transition Metal Ion FRET and Native Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023, 145, 19, 10542–10547.

[7] Ri Wu, Jonas B Metternich, Prince Tiwari, Lukas R Benzenberg, Julian A Harrison, Qinlei Liu, Renato Zenobi*. Structural Studies of a Stapled Peptide with Native Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry and Transition Metal Ion Förster Resonance Energy Transfer in the Gas Phase. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2022, 144, 32, 14441–14445.

[8] Ri Wu, Jonas B Metternich, Prince Tiwari, Renato Zenobi*. Adapting a Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometer for Gas-Phase Fluorescence Spectroscopy Measurement of Trapped Biomolecular Ions. Anal. Chem. 2021, 93, 47, 15626–15632.

[9] Hanyi Xie#, Ri Wu#, YL Winnie Hung, Xiangfeng Chen*, T-W Dominic Chan*. Development of a Matrix Sublimation Device with Controllable Crystallization Temperature for MALDI Mass Spectrometry Imaging. Anal. Chem. 2021, 93, 16, 6342–6347.

[10] Prince Tiwari, Ri Wu, Jonas B Metternich, Renato Zenobi*. Transition metal ion FRET in the gas phase: A 10–40 Å range molecular ruler for mass-selected biomolecular ions. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143, 30, 11291–11295.

[11] Ri Wu, Xiangfeng Chen*, Wei‐Jing Wu, Ze Wang, Yik‐Ling Winnie Hung, Hei‐Tung Wong, T‐W Dominic Chan*. Fine adjustment of gas modifier loadings for separation of epimeric glycopeptides using differential ion mobility spectrometry mass spectrometry. Rapid Commun. Mass Spectrom, 2020, 34, 9, e8751.

[12] Ri Wu, Xiangfeng Chen*, Wei-Jing Wu, Ze Wang, Y-L Elaine Wong, Y-L Winnie Hung, H-T Wong, Minli Yang, Feng Zhang, T-W Dominic Chan*. Rapid Differentiation of Asian and American Ginseng by Differential Ion Mobility Spectrometry-Tandem Mass Spectrometry Using Stepwise Modulation of Gas Modifier Concentration. J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom. 2019, 30, 11, 2212–2221

[13] Ri Wu, Wei-Jing Wu, Ze Wang, Y-L Elaine Wong, Y-L Winnie Hung, HT Wong, Xiangfeng Chen*, T-W Dominic Chan*. Performance enhancements in differential ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry (DMS-MS) by using a modified CaptiveSpray source. J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom. 2018, 29, 11, 2199–2207.