Junlong Geng was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Illinois in the lab of Andrew Smith. He helped the RIPE project improve the transgenic modifications of crops. Junlong earned his bachelor's degree in applied chemistry from the China University of Petroleum, master's degree in inorganic chemistry from the University of Science and Technology of China, and doctorate in chemistry and biomolecular engineering from the National University of Singapore. He was a Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow from 2016 to 2019. His work is widely published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Scientific Reports, Advanced Materials, and other peer-reviewed journals.