Research

Overview

Our group focuses on studying innovative and cost-effective methods for sensitive and accurate disease detection at the point-of-care (POC). The overarching goal of our group is to develop novel POC diagnostic platforms for automated “sample-to-answer” analysis and empower our capability on early disease detection and management. These portable and connected diagnostic sensors will be aimed for broad applications in global health, precision agriculture, veterinary medicine, continuous biomanufacturing, and environmental safety. We apply interdisciplinary approaches to create diagnostic sensor systems, including using smartphone-based microscopes, molecular assays, lab-on-a-chip devices, microfluidics, plasmonic nanomaterials, and computational methods.

Point-of-Care Diagnostics

There has been a growing trend toward bringing medical diagnostics from the lab bench to the patient side. We are interested in developing miniature and rapid POC tests for the detection of various diseases such as cancer, infectious diseases, and neurological disorders from easily accessible specimens, including human blood, sweat, and tears. We focus on field-portable methods that can facilitate sample preparation (e.g., on-chip cell lysis/separation), simplify assay process (microfluidics), and improve detection limit (e.g., digital/single-molecule assays). In particular, we are interested in molecular diagnostic assays involving genetic testing with the ultimate goal of developing new-generation POC genotyping and sequencing methods. We share the same mission with Global One Health Academy to address complex global challenges in human health.

CRISPR Diagnostics

We are interested in exploring the full potential of CRISPR technology as the next-generation point-of-use genetic testing platform. We study the fundamental assay mechanism, new signaling and reporting system, and assay miniaturization on lab-on-a-chip devices to deliver a practically useful DNA/RNA detection system with the required sensitivity and specificity.

Plant Health and Precision Agriculture

Crop production and disease protection present global concerns in every region of the world. However, identification of the causal agents such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi can be difficult, especially for farmers in low-income countries where the accessibility to crop protection knowledge and technologies is limited. We are working closely with the Emerging Plant Disease and Global Food Security Cluster and Plant Sciences Initiative faculty at NC State to develop miniature sensor devices that can be applied to leaves, soil, and seeds to speed the detection of important plant pathogens such as P. infestans in the field.

Biomanufacturing Analytics

Sensors and diagnostic assays become an increasingly important part of continuous and modular biomanufacturing. We are interested in developing low-cost and rapid sensor technologies to enable in-line or at-line quantification of key process attributes and product qualities for cellular and gene therapy.

Environmental Sensing

We develop affordable and field-deployable assays and devices for environmental sensing. We are interested in handheld sensing systems consisting of mobile phone readers and paper/microfluidic devices for geospatial monitoring of a variety of targets, ranging from inorganic ions, organic contaminates, to water-borne pathogens.