Our research is focused in three areas: lab-on-a-chip devices for biomedicine, medical devices, and optical quantum detectors.
We develop lab-on-a-chip devices combining microfluidics, photonics, and acoustics for diagnosis and health monitoring as well as fundamental biomedical research. The former includes monitoring of the progression of HIV/AIDS, early stage cancer diagnosis, leukemia and whole blood analysis; and the latter includes bio-specimen purification, adult stem cell separation, circulating tumor cell separation, single-cell sequencing, human microbial, cancer research, to name a few. The core device technology is a single-chip micro-FACS (fluorescence-activated-cell-sorter) with single-cell resolution at one thousandth of the size and weight of the current system. We are in collaboration with UCSD Bioengineering Department, Institute of Engineering in Medicine (IEM), School of Medicine, and Cancer Center on this research.
We also apply fluidic and optofluidic technologies to make a variety of medical devices for minimally invasive surgery and ophthalmology. The former refers to a compact surgical camera with superior performance and additional functionality compared to current laparoscopes and endoscopes. The camera has a small form factor, can optically zoom and auto-focus, and possesses macro and microscopic functions for detection of biomarkers. The project is in collaboration with industry, UCSD Department of Surgery, and the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technologies (Calit2). The devices for ophthalmology refer to a myriad of hand-held imaging devices and sensors to monitor the health of retina and the development of age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma. The projects are in collaboration with industry, UCSD Ophthalmology Department, and the Institute of Engineering in Medicine (IEM).
The research of optical quantum detectors includes avalanche detectors and nanowire detectors. The objectives are to develop semiconductor detectors that can detect single photons from IR to UV wavelength. Applications of such detectors include quantum communications, space communication, remote sensing, biosensing, radiation detection, and medical imaging. We are in collaboration with industry and several national laboratories on this project.
| 
