Biography:

Dr. Jens Ducrée holds a Full Professorship of Microsystems in the School of Physical Sciences at Dublin City University (DCU), Ireland. He is the founding director of Ireland’s first Fraunhofer Project Centre for Embedded Bioanalytical Systems at DCU (FPC@DCU) – a joint initiative of Science Foundation Ireland and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. He  is also academic member of the National Centre for Sensor Research (NCSR) and the 3U Joint Institute of Global Health (JIGH), and a principal investigator for Microfluidic Platforms at the Biomedical Diagnostics Institute (BDI) since 2008.

The main part of his research is directed towards novel microfluidic systems and associated actuation, detection, fabrication and instrumentation technologies for the integration, automation, miniaturization and parallelization of sample preparation and detection of bioanalytical assays (e.g. immunoassays, nucleic acid testing, general chemistry and cell counting). Typical applications of these next-generation “Lab-on-a-Chip” platforms are sample-to-answer systems for biomedical point-of-care and global diagnostics, liquid handling automation for the life sciences (e.g. concentration / purification and amplification of DNA / RNA from a range of biosamples), process analytical techniques and cell line development for biopharma as well as monitoring the environment, infrastructure, industrial processes and agrifood.

Abstract:

The successful commercialisation of microfluidics-enabled solutions in the context of the life sciences is typically led by significant techno-economical challenges on performance, reliability and cost of development and manufacture. With the example of the centrifugal microfluidic “Lab-on-a-Disc” technology, this paper outlines a platform-based approach for expediting and de-risking the route from proof-of-concepts to high technology readiness levels as adopted from mature industries. Rather than starting from scratch, new applications are flexibly configured from a geometrically parametrised design library of Laboratory Unit Operations, e.g. for particle separation, metering and mixing, that are interconnected by flow control elements such as valves for comprehensive sample-to-answer automation of common (bio-)assay protocols, e.g. for small molecules, proteins / antibodies, nucleic acids and bioparticles such as cells. The development kit encompasses experimental and simulation tools to validate functional robustness, guidelines for design and scale-up of manufacture, and standard procedures for system- and component-level characterisation. The modular strategy also offers opportunity towards accelerating regulatory processes and for coordinating industrial supply chains.

Biography:

Dr.Tianhong Cui is currently a Distinguished McKnight University Professor at the University of Minnesota. He is a Professor in Mechanical Engineering and an Affiliate Senior Member of the graduate faculty in Department of Electrical Engineering and Department of Biomedical Engineering. He joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota in 2003. From 1995 to 2003, he held research or faculty positions at Tsinghua University, University of Minnesota, National Laboratory of Metrology in Japan, and Louisiana Tech University. He is an Adjunct Professor at Mayo Clinic, a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge, and a Laureate of Blaise Pascal Chair from the ENS Foundation in France. He is a Fellow of American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME).

His current research interests include MEMS and nanotechnology. He has more than 310 archived publications in scientific journals and prestigious conferences. He received awards including the STA & NEDO Fellowships in Japan, the Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship in Germany, the Research Foundation Award from Louisiana Tech University, the Richard & Barbara Endowed Chair and the Distinguished McKnight University Professorship from the University of Minnesota, the Distinguished Visiting Professorships from University of Paris East and Tsinghua University, the Blaise Pascal Chair for Excellence from ENS Foundation in France, the Distinguished Visiting Fellowship from the Royal Academy of Engineering in UK, the Outstanding Editor Award from Chinese Academy of Sciences/ Nature Publishing Group, and numerous best paper awards. He is the founding Executive Editor-in-Chief for two Nature journals, Light: Science & Applications and Microsystems & Nanoengineering. He is also serving as the founding Editor-in-Chief for the first AAAS/Science Partner Journal titled Research.

Abstract:

Polymer shrinkage becomes a new approach to do lithography and generate smaller structures by reforming larger pre-patterned structures. The facile polymer fabrication approach by embossing and thermoplastic shrinkage aims to do lithography in a nanoscale or reduce the feature size and dramatically increase the aspect ratio of imprinted microstructures. The shrinkage capability of embossed microstructures is obtained by molding at low temperatures for less cycle time. Embossed patterns are activated for shrinkage by removing projected structures and heating at higher temperatures. The final structures are defined with the shape of removed materials before shrinking polymer materials. Both two- and three-dimensional embossed structures were successfully shrunk into much smaller scale. This polymer-shrinking process brings a new way to extend the fabrication capability of polymer embossing process towards MEMS-based biosensors. This talk will present shrink polymer for nanolithography, high-aspect-ratio microstructures, and biosensors for medical applications.

Biography:

Jun Yang is Professor in Mechanical & Materials Engineering and Biomedical Engineering, and Director of WIN 4.0 (Western’s Industry 4.0 Network) at Western University (The University of Western Ontario). He is a Principle Investigator of Micro-Nano-Bio Systems Lab at Western University, Canada and and Fellow of The Canadian Academy of Engineering. His research interests include Additive Engineering, 3D Printing, Printed Electronics, Metamaterials, Acoustics, MEMS/NEMS, Sensors, Lab-on-a-chip/Biochip, Membrane Separation/Filtration, Surface Science and Engineering, Microbial Fuel Cells, SPM (AFM/STM), Polymer Nanocomposites, Nanomaterials, Nanotechnology, Green Technologies. He has published more than 120 papers including multiple cover articles in high-quality journals. He has given ~ 80 plenary/keynote/invited talks on conferences, symposiums, and workshops. He has received numerous awards. Three of his inventions have been transferred to industries for mass production.

Abstract:

Point-of-care (POC) testing offers rapid results of diagnostics near the site of patient care, which can significantly improve health care and management of infectious diseases. Blood tests are the most commonly-used diagnostic methods nowadays because blood analyses provide definitive information of medical conditions of patients. Traditional blood tests are conducted using large-scale blood analyzers, which are equipped in centralized laboratories and only operated by highly trained personnel. The traditional blood tests are time and cost consuming, and labor extensive. With the development of Lab-on-a-chip technology, biochemical experiments can be performed automatically on single chips. However on-chip blood testing is challenging because the whole blood is a complex non-Newtonian fluid with high constituent of blood cells. Here I will present our recent developments of Lab-on-a-chip and Lab-on-a-tip technologies, i.e. integrating chemical biosensors into Lab-on-a-CD devices and integrating surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) on optical fibers, for POC diagnostics of whole blood samples.

Biography:

Mahmoud Almasri is an Associate Professor and Principal Investigator in Microsystem Research Lab (MRL) in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at the University of Missouri, USA. He received BSc and MSc degrees in physics from Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey, in 1995 and 1997, respectively, and a PhD in electrical engineering from Southern Methodist University (SMU), Dallas, TX, in 2001. In 2004-2005, he was with Georgia Institute of Technology as a post-doctoral fellow, and a research scientist. He’s research and published materials include uncooled infrared microblometers, micromirrors, Coulter counter, micropost array for mapping cell traction forces, wafer level packaging and three-dimensional microscaffolds for brain slice and neuronal network studies in vitro and in situ.

Abstract:

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Biography:

Seokheun “Sean” Choi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at State University of New York (SUNY)-Binghamton. Currently, he is running “Bioelectronics & Microsystems Lab” as a Director and “Center for Research in Advanced Sensing Technologies & Environmental Sustainability” as an Associate Director at SUNY-Binghamton. Prior to joining SUNY-Binghamton, he was a research professor in the School of Electronic & Computing Systems at the University of Cincinnati. He received his Ph.D. degree in bioelectronics from Arizona State University in 2011. His current research focuses on next generation “Biosensing and Bioenergy technologies,” including self-powered biosensors, wearable and stretchable sensors, biobatteries, papertronics, and fibertronics. He has been recognized as a pioneer in micro-sized biobatteries and paper-based biosensing systems. Over the years, he has secured funding over $2.5 million from NSF, ONR, and SUNY Research Foundation. He has authored over 100 journal and conference articles, two book chapters, and one book, and hold two U.S. patents.

Abstract:

Effective and rapid diagnostics have the capability to revolutionize public healthcare both in developed and developing countries. One of the key challenges that is critical to address in developing biosensors is to effectively and sufficiently power them. In developing countries, where the electricity grid is not well established and the use of batteries is not cost-effective, power supplies are the most problematic issue for stand-alone and self-sustained devices.

In this talk, Prof. Choi will provide an overview of techniques for powering diagnostic devices for use in both developed and developing countries, as well as detailed discussions of recent advancements in biosensors. He will also discuss next-generation diagnostics and their power source strategies.

Biography:

Dr. Anhong Zhou is a Associate Professor in the Department of Biological Engineering, Utah State University, USA and Editorial borad member of Journal of Biosensors & Bioelectronics. He earned his PhD (2000) in Biosensors at Hunan University, China. He has published about fifty peer reviewed journal papers and he was author of one book chapter. He has been teaching experience of more than fifteen years at USU. He served as members of American Chemical Society (ACS), Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), Electrochemical Society (ECS), Institute of Biological Engineering (IBE), Materials Research Society (MRS), American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and the International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE). He served as a reviewer for more than forty peerreviewed journals in the areas of biosensors materials science and engineering biointerface nanotechnology and biomechanics.

His research area is focused on the molecular and cellular sensing and bioimaging, including the fabrication and intergration of chemical sensors, biosensors, and bio-microdevices.

Abstract:

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