Xiaojun Peng received his Ph.D. in 1990 at Dalian University of Technology. After completing postdoctoral research in Nankai University, he has been working at Dalian University of Technology since 1992. In 2001 and 2002, he has been a visiting scholar in Stockholm University and Northwestern University (U.S.A), respectively. He served as the director of the State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals at Dalian University of Technology from 1997 to 2023. Currently, he is a professor at Dalian University of Technology and Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences (since 2017). He has been listed in "Highly Cited Researchers" by Thomson Reuters since 2015. His research interests cover photo-driven intelligent molecules and product engineering, including: 1. Fluorescent chemosensors: Based on photo-induced electron transfer, intramolecular charge transfer and energy transfer, fluorescent chemosensors for chemicals with biological activity, such as cations, anions, molecules, enzymes, proteins, DNA, RNA and reactive oxygen species, and for environmental factors such as temperature, polarity, viscosity, and pH, have been developed. These chemosensors have been designed for applications in vitro and in vivo. Molecular platform with near-infrared excitation and emission with large Stokes Shift and strong fluorescence has been set up, suitable for bio-system applications, such as diagnosis and fluorescence-guided surgery. 2. Photosensitizers for theranostics: Near-infrared photosensitizers are designed to bind selectively to biomarkers and improve targeting internalization in cancer cells. For example, the ingestion by biotin receptor positive cells is much higher than biotin receptor negative cells. The platform of NIR photo-generator system of superoxide anion free radical for highly efficient photodynamic ablation of hypoxic tumors has been developed. It contributes to comparable photo-cytotoxicity in hypoxia to normoxia envrionments, and provides hundreds-fold enhancement in the aspect of anticancer potency compared with normal clinical photosensitizers for photodynamic therapy. 3. Chemical product engineering: The ultimate products design and optimization on the chemical structures from molecule to nano- and macro-structure, the time range spanning from nanosecond response to long-time endurance, as well as on the clean manufacturing processes at bench-, pilot- and mega-scale. In these ways, NIR cyanine dyes as fluorescent sensors for DNA or RNA have been used commercially in new hematology analyzers, and new functional dyes with weather-resistance have been industrialized as color components used in ink-jet printing and laser printing.