(2fi) Biomimetic Nanopore and Material for Rapid Identification, Quantification, and Isolation

The explosively increasing number of cancer patients and high death rate spurred intensive investigation into the cancer issue. So far, there are no magic drugs which can directly cure cancer. The ability to detect and intervene cancers at their earliest stages is crucial for their effective treatment and cure. Utilizing biomarkers for early cancer detection and diagnosis is one of the most effective strategies. Many biomolecules, including DNA, RNA, proteins, Exosomes, etc., have been studied for this purpose. However, disease correlated features have relatively low level of abundance change at early stages, the lack of sensitivity and specificity of conventional diagnostic strategies still result in their incapability to reliably detect early-stage disease. To address this challenge, we developed three suites of biosensing system: (1) Bionanopore stochastic sensors by using a biological ion channel embedded in a planar lipid bilayer to detect analytes at the single-molecule level. The single-molecule identities could be reported during channel translocation forms the fundamental basis of nanopore sensing. Based on this platform, fast distinguishing the DNA mutation and protease biomarker fingerprinting were successfully identified into picomolar with just some min. (2) Artificial pore fabricated in a solid-state membrane as a biomimetic approach and integrated with on-chip electronics for rapid and sensitive assay. This set of devices successfully enables rapid and efficient protein identification and small nucleic acid (e.g. miRNAs) detection from raw clinical samples, which provide higher throughput and point-of-care application. (3) By taking the excellent optical property of graphene, we also developed and synthesized a series of graphene-based sensors to detect biomolecule for multiplexed imaging the tumor ecosystems, understanding the disease mechanism, improving diagnostic accuracy, even screening drug candidates. Based on the model building and programming, our assembled graphene platform could realize the simultaneous detection of less samples but reflect more information of human diseases and cancer.

My long-term goal is still focused on biomimetic channel and material for single molecule detection. One cluster of projects is related to cancer research, including sequencing peptides and DNA; detection of biomarkers, development of nanopore sensor array; rapid methylation mapping, and quantitative microRNA detection. The second cluster of projects aims at development of biosensors for molecules of environmental or biological importance. The third cluster of research projects is related to the fields of medicine and pharmaceuticals. Especially, we are interested in the study of viruses, toxins, drugs, and vaccines, and the development of novel systems for controlled drug delivery.

Teaching Interests :

My teaching philosophy is that undergraduate and graduate education is a fundamental and important component of any productive career in science. Therefore, to me, the students' achievements are seen as one measure of my own success. In principle, I like to use the interactive teaching style that encourages students to participate in ongoing lectures or discussions since this approach helps keep students’ focus on the material, and also stimulate their interest in the course. As a teaching assistant, I have taught core undergraduate Chemistry courses including Physical Chemistry and General Chemistry and Biological Engineering course Intro to Bioengineering. As a co-instructor and guest lecturer, I have taught advanced graduate Chemical Engineering and Chemistry courses including Spectroscopic Method and Nanomedicine: Therapeutics and Diagnostics. Given my formal training in Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Department of Chemistry, I can teach a variety of courses in several different fields. These include Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering, Organic chemistry (organic synthesis, organic electronics, surface chemistry, and drug design), Analytical chemistry (quantitative analysis, instrumental analysis, and chemical separation), Biochemistry, Material chemistry, Biomedical engineering, Nanotechnology, etc. Due to my diverse academic experience in chemistry and engineering, I believe that my biggest pedagogical contribution will be to integrate various courses with fundamental science and design advanced and specialized courses such as Biosensor, Integrated Microsystems and Novel Diagnostic Tools.