The research interests of our group are focused on developing novel separation and sample handling components for microfluidic (Lab-on-a-Chip; μTAS) devices and then using these devices to solve interesting bioanalytical problems with special emphasis in the areas of protein separations (proteomics) and single cell analysis. This research is multidisciplinary in nature drawing upon knowledge in the fields of chemistry, physics, engineering, cell biology, and biochemistry.
We are especially interested in developing advanced sample handling, separation, and detection methodologies on microfluidic devices to study protein expression and metabolic pathways in single cells. Following and detecting the changes in protein expression over time in single cells is critical to understanding processes such as cell differentiation, embryology and the evolution of disease states. The ability to identify and quantitate such changes should help 1) in the early diagnosis and successful treatment of diseases like cancer, and 2) in better understanding how complex organisms develop from single cells.
To study changes in the expression of these proteins, therefore, highly sensitive detection and powerful separation techniques must be developed for use on these microfluidic devices. To address these challenges we are 1) exploring the use of novel fluorogenic and fluorescent compounds for the derivatization of proteins at low concentrations, and 2) developing multi-dimensional separation techniques to handle the large number of components that need to be separated.
Research:
- Single Cell Analysis on Microfluidic Devices
- Reactive Nitrogen Species Analysis at the Single Cell Level
- Using Fiber Bridges to Improve Single Cell Analysis
- Kinase Activity Analysis at the Single Cell Level
- Dielectric Actuators
- Improving Injections Using IDEAS
- Using Permanent and Dynamic Coatings to Improve Separation Efficiency on PDMS-based Microfluidic Devices
Research:
- Single Cell Analysis
- Off-chip integration of multimode optical fiber bridge to establish two excitation/detections spots using single excitation source and single detector.
- Sequential video rate frames of cell lysis. Jurkat cells loaded with carboxyfluorescein
- Two fundamental light propagation modes to monitor physical characteristics and biological properties of single cells
Research: Chemistry – Studies signal transduction pathways (i.e. kinase cascades) in cells to better understand how misregulation of them results in the development of cancers. Is also developing a "lab-on-a-chip" cancer early-detection test
