Welcome to the \((M)^3\) (Multiscale Molecular Modeling, pronounced Cubic) Lab @ Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University! We are a theoretical and computational research group led by Dr. Zhenghao Wu (吴正浩). We use and develop tools such as molecular simulations, coarse-graining methods, statistical mechanical theories, and machine learning algorithms to study the behaviors of soft matter. We are particularly interested in polymers and biomolecules. The goal of our group is to understand, predict, and rationally design macromolecular materials to fight modern “Zombies” (energy, healthcare and sustainbility questions). To achieve these, we believe advancements in the following two areas are needed:

  • To advance the multiscale simulation capabilities to understand and predict materials properties from molecular to continuum levels
  • To develop intelligent approaches for materials-by-design of functional materials under normal and extreme conditions

News

Jun 20, 2026 We posted a new ChemRxiv preprint in the AI for Science (AI4S) area: PolyTrace: Grounded LLM Reasoning for Data-Efficient and Faithful Prediction of Polymer Glass Transition Temperatures.
Jun 15, 2026 Congratulations to Yuqi Wei, research assistant and undergraduate student in our group, on receiving a master’s offer from Imperial College London. He has decided to stay in the group to pursue his PhD. We look forward to his continued work with us.
Jun 15, 2026 Congratulations to Ziran Wu, former research assistant and undergraduate student in our group, on receiving a PhD offer from Dartmouth College. We wish her great success in her doctoral studies.
May 15, 2026 Congratulations to Ziqing Wang, former FYP undergraduate student in our group, on receiving master’s offers from the University of Manchester and the National University of Singapore. She has decided to pursue her master’s at NUS. We wish her all the best.
Nov 26, 2025 Dr. Wu published research articles about polymer glass transition and topological design on Nature Communications and Science Advance, collaborated with Prof. Biao Zuo from Zhengjiang Sci-Tech University

Selected publications

  1. JCTC
    2023-12-11-JCTC2023.png
    Structural Coarse-Graining via Multiobjective Optimization with Differentiable Simulation
    Zhenghao Wu, and Tianhang Zhou
    Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, Mar 2024
  2. Macromolecules
    2023-03-13-Macro2023.png
    Implicit Chain Particle Model for Polymer-Grafted Nanoparticles
    Zhenghao Wu, Subhadeep Pal, and Sinan Keten
    Macromolecules, May 2023
  3. 2020-12-04-JCTC2020.png
    Combination of Hybrid Particle-Field Molecular Dynamics and Slip-Springs for the Efficient Simulation of Coarse-Grained Polymer Models: Static and Dynamic Properties of Polystyrene Melts
    Zhenghao Wu, Giuseppe Milano, and Florian Müller-Plathe
    Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, Jan 2021