Research Focus

MESA laboratory primarily focuses on the study of microfluidic transport and the design of fluidic devices with applications in medicine, environment, food, and water. Our research group works on characterization, isolation, concentration, bioseparation, and detection techniques of nano- and micro-bioparticles. We manipulate the bioparticles via electrokinetic techniques: dielectrophoresis, electrophoresis, and electroosmosis. Dielectrophoresis (DEP) can employ both AC and DC electric field gradients to carry out high-resolution separation with these simple and easy-to-use devices.

Our technology can identify pathogens and abnormal cells in ~1 min at an extremely low cost, investigating and correlating subtle differences in pre-malignant states, pre-stem cell differentiation, and genetic, phenotypic, or histologic state. This capability can be distributed to low-resource settings, improving the health of millions. Our goal is to develop robust and rapid microfluidic-based techniques to offer an alternative to traditional bench-scale separation/purification processes. Our ultimate goal is to create portable and economical tools that mimic a "lab on a chip."