Ju Chou
Dr. Ju Chou is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Physics at Florida Gulf Coast University. Dr. Chou received her Ph.D. in chemistry from Chinese Academy of Science, Changchun, China in 1995. After that, Dr. Chou has worked as a postdoctoral fellow in RIKEN Research Institute in Japan for a year during 1996-1997. She came to the United States as a visiting research scholar working at University of California-Irvine and later at University of California-Santa Barbara, respectively. Dr. Chou’s research areas include bio-electrochemistry of proteins such as cytochrome c, myoglobin and hemoglobin, bioaccumulation of trace elements in tissues, synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials such as gold nanoparticles and their biomedical applications. Dr. Chou’s recent research interests also include green synthesis of gold nanoparticles and environmental analysis/monitoring of toxic metals and trace elements in water, soil and human hair. She has also been collaborating with biology professors on the application of gold nanoparticles using dark field optical microscopy. This research focuses on the design of model nanoparticles for potential application in in vitro and in vivo assays of studying toxicity, biocompatibility and transport of gold nanoparticles.