Research

The Lu group is interested in doing research at the interface of engineering and biology. We engineer BioMEMS (Bio Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) and microfluidic devices to address questions in neuroscience, cell biology, and biotechnology that are difficult to answer using conventional techniques. These micro systems are sometimes referred to as Lab-on-a-Chip. Applied to the study of fundamental biological questions, these new techniques allow us to gather large-scale quantitative data about complex systems. Microfluidic devices are especially suitable for solving these problems because of the many advantages associated with shrinking the devices down to a scale comparable to typical biological systems. Furthermore, unique phenomena at the micro and nano length scale, such as enhanced surface effects and transport phenomena, can be exploited in designing novel techniques and devices.

Announcements:

Postdoc, graduate student, and part-time technician positions available!

Recent News:

May 2013: Congratulations to alum Kwanghun Chung who will be starting his own lab as an assistant professor at MIT!

Congratulations to Hyewon Lee who defended her thesis this spring and will be starting a postdoc position at MIT!

January 2013:  Matt’s paper was highlighted by Nature Methods to be one of the methods to watch.  Congrats!

December 2012: Adriana’s wormbook chapter is accepted!  Ed’s paper is accepted!  Congrats!

November 2012: Hyewon’s paper is out!  Congrats!

August 2012: Matt’s paper it out!  Also see GT News and NSF Science 360 articles on it.

May 2012: We are proud to announce that alum Kwanghun Chung gets a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award at the Scientific Interface!  See the official announcement!

April 2012:  Ivan’s paper is out!

Seminars on campus

Lab Meetings Summer 2012, R9-11 (except specially noted), ES&T L1120