Lab-on-a-chip, Microfluidics, Microfabrication, Acoustic bubbles, Biomedical applications 

• Lab-on-a-Chip
• Microfluidics
• Microfabrication
• Acoustic bubbles
• Biomedical devices and applications

Brief Description of Research: My research focuses on microfluidics, biomedical devices and acoustic microfluidics technologies, seeking to engineer revolutionary micro/nano systems for addressing the problems in biological and biomedical research related to human health. 

Microfluidics Laboratory: 

Microfluidics laboratory focuses on developing innovative micro/nanofluidic devices and systems using microfabrication technology to solve problems in healthcare.  Microfluidics Lab includes three parts: Microfabrication, Biosample preparation, and Experimentation. The equipment in each part are:

1. Microfabrication: CNC Micromilling Machine, Thin-film Fabrication, Inkjet Printer, Molding and Bonding Equipment, etc. 
2. Biosample preparation: Biological Safety Cabinet, CO2 Incubator, Bio Refrigerator and Freezer, etc.
3. Experimentation: Inverted Microscope, Voltage Amplifier, Function generator, Syringe Pump, etc.

Lab location: ES 323      

Lab website

Research Applications:

• Drug delivery
• Blood disease study
• Cell manipulation
• Biomedical devices and treatments

Brief Description: 

By engineering and controlling acoustically actuated gas/liquid interfaces in microfluidics, its associated phenomena can be applied in solving various biomedical research problems, including biofluid transportation at microscale, cell manipulation (trapping, enrichment, separation, disaggregation, lysis, single cell analysis, cell-cell interaction analysis), 3D cell culture, disease diagnosis and treatment.

Research Sponsors: 

• NASA “PIPES: Piezoelectric Instrument for Precision Exploration Sampling”
  08/2017-08/2020 (PI: Dr. Jie Xu)
• NSF “Towards High-Throughput Label-Free Circulating Tumor Cell Separation using 3D Deterministic Dielectrophoresis (D-Cubed)”
  08/2019-08/2023 (PI: Dr. Jie Xu)
• Anthem, Inc “Advanced Interpretation of Human Microvascular Blood Rheology for Cardiovascular Disease Diagnosis”  
  08/2020-08/2021 (PI: Dr. Jie Xu)
• Sigma Xi “Acoustic microfluidic pump for portable medical devices”
  01/2019-01/2020 (PI: Dr. Yuan Gao)
• UIC “Acoustic bubbles for selective cell seeding within a 3D microfluidic scaffold”
  05/2021-05/2022 (PI: Dr. Yuan Gao)