Abraham Lee, Editor-in-Chief
University of California at Irvine, USA
Abraham (Abe) P. Lee is the William J. Link Professor and Chair of the Biomedical Engineering (BME) Department with a courtesy appointment in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) at the University of California, Irvine. He is the Director of the NSF I/UCRC “Center for Advanced Design & Manufacturing of Integrated Microfluidics” (CADMIM) and also was PI for the Micro/nano Fluidics Fundamentals Focus (MF3) Center, a DARPA-industry supported research center (2006-2013). Prior to joining UCI in 2002, he was a Senior Technology Advisor in the Office of Technology and Industrial Relations at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, and a program manager in the Microsystems Technology Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) (Arlington, VA). Dr. Lee started his career at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and led projects on the development of microtools for the treatment of stroke and biowarfare defense. Dr. Lee’s lab focuses on microfluidic platforms applied to point-of-care and molecular diagnostics, sample preparation and liquid biopsy, cell-like vesicles for theranostics, single cell processing and analysis, and vascularized organ-on-a-chips. His research has contributed to the founding of several start-up companies and he serves as an advisor to companies and government agencies. He owns more than 40 issued US patents. Professor Lee was awarded the 2009 Pioneers of Miniaturization Prize and is an elected fellow of the American Institute of and Medical and Biological Engineering and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Dr. Lee received his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley and his B.S. degree from National Tsing Hua University.
Yoon-Kyoung Cho, Associate editor
UNIST, South Korea
ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6423-1834
Yoon-Kyoung Cho is a Full Professor in Biomedical Engineering at Ulsan National Institute for Science and Technology (UNIST) and a group leader in the Center for Soft and Living Matter at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), South Korea. She received her Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1999, having obtained her M.S. and B.S. in Chemical Engineering from POSTECH in South Korea in 1994 and 1992, respectively. She worked as a senior researcher (1999–2008) at Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), where she participated in the development of in vitro diagnostic devices for biomedical applications. Since she joined UNIST in 2008, she has served as the chair of the school of Nano-Bioscience and Chemical Engineering (2008–2014) and the school of Life Sciences (2014–2015) and the director of World Class University (2009–2013) and BK21 (2013–2015) programs.
She is a Fellow of Royal Society of Chemistry and a recipient of numerous awards including Ministry of Health and Welfare commendation, Korean Woman Engineer of the Year, Samsung CEO’s Award for Best Technology Achievement of the Year, and Racheff Award. Her research interests range from basic sciences to translational research in microfluidics and nanomedicine. Current research topics include a lab-on-a-disc for the detection of rare cells and extracellular biomarkers, quantitative analysis of single cells, and system analysis of cellular communication. She has had a prolific career in academia and industry, publishing > 80 scientific papers and >120 registered patents to date. Learn more about Cho group from http://fruits.unist.ac.kr.
Petra Dittrich, Associate editor
ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Petra Dittrich has been Associate Professor for Bioanalytics at the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering since 2014. Her research in the field of lab-on-chip-technologies focuses on the miniaturization of high-sensitivity devices for chemical and biological analyses, and microfluidic-aided organization of materials.
Professor Dittrich studied chemistry at Bielefeld University (Germany) and Universidad de Salamanca (Spain) from 1993 to 1999. She earned her PhD degree at the Max Planck-Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (MPI Göttingen, Germany) in 2003 for her thesis on single fluorescent molecule spectroscopy and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy in microfluidic channels. After another year as postdoctoral fellow at the MPI Göttingen, she had a postdoctoral appointment at the Institute for Analytical Sciences (ISAS Dortmund, Germany) (2004-2008). For research stays, she was at the Cornell University (2002) and the University of Tokyo (2005). In 2008, she became Assistant Professor at the Organic Chemistry Laboratories of the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences (ETH Zurich). Professor Dittrich was fellow of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, the German Exchange Organization DAAD and the Christiane Nüsslein-Vollhard-foundation. Her PhD was awarded by the Westfälisch-Lippische Universitätsgesellschaft. She received the Starting Grant from the European Research Commission (ERC) (2008), the Analytica Forschungspreis of the German Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (GBM), donated by Roche Diagnostics GmbH (2010), the Heinrich Emanuel Merck award (2015) and the ERC Consolidator Grant (2016).etra Dittrich is Associate Professor for Bioanalytics at the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering since 2014. Her research in the field of lab-on-chip-technologies focuses on the miniaturization of high-sensitivity devices for chemical and biological analyses, and microfluidic-aided organization of materials.
Hang Lu, Associate editor
Georgia Institute of Technology, USA
ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6881-660X
Hang Lu is the Love Family Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Tech. She graduated summa cum laude from UIUC with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, and obtained her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in 2003 from MIT working with Klavs Jensen and Martin Schmidt. Before starting at Georgia Tech in 2005, she was a postdoc with eurogeneticist Cori Bargmann at UCSF and Rockefeller U. Her current research interests are microfluidics and its applications in neurobiology, systems biology, cancer, and biotechnology. Her award and honors include the ACS Analytical Chemistry Young Innovator Award, a National Science Foundation CAREER award, an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship, a DuPont Young Professor Award, a DARPA Young Faculty Award, and sCouncil of Systems Biology in Boston (CSB2) Prize in Systems Biology; she was also named an MIT Technology Review TR35 top innovator, and invited to give the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Van Ness Award Lectures in 2011, and the Saville Lecture at Princeton in 2013. She is an elected fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and an elected fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).
Jianhua Qin, Associate editor
Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, China
Jianhua Qin is a professor of Division of Biotechnology at Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and the Director of Microfluidics Research Center at DICP. Dr.Qin is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) and a member of the Executive Technical Program Committee (ETPC) for the MicroTAS conference (2011-2015). Dr. Qin received her Ph.D in Chemistry at CAS, and her M.D in Clinical Medicine at China Medical University. She was a visiting professor at the University of Hong Kong (2002-2003) and the University of Toronto (2005-2006). Dr. Qin has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and issued 35 patents to date. Her research interests lie in the interface between lab-on-a-chip technology and biomedical science in order to understand human patho-physiology that leads to the design of new diagnostic schemes and therapeutic strategies.
Manabu Tokeshi, Associate editor
Hokkaido University, Japan
Manabu Tokeshi is a Professor at the Division of Applied Chemistry at Hokkaido University. He is also a visiting Professor at ImPACT Research Center for Advanced Nanobiodevice, Innovative Research Center for Preventive Medical Engineering, and Institute of Innovation for Future Society at Nagoya University. Professor Tokeshi is a board member of the Chemical & Biological Microsystem Society (CBMS) which oversees the International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemical and Life Sciences (mTAS). He received his PhD degree from Kyushu University in 1997. After his research fellowship awarded by the Japan Society of Promotion of Science at the University of Tokyo, he worked at Kanagawa Academy of Science and Technology as a researcher (1998-1999), group subleader (1999-2003), and group leader (2003-2004). He also worked at the Institute of Microchemistry Technology Co. Ltd. as President (2004-2005) and at Nagoya University as an Associate Professor (2005-2011). In 2011, he visited Karolinska Institutet as a visiting researcher and joined the Hokkaido University as a Professor. His honours include the Outstanding Researcher Award on Chemistry and Micro-Nano Systems from the Society for Chemistry and Micro-Nano Systems (2007), the Pioneers in Miniaturisation Prize from the Lab on a Chip / Corning Inc. (2007) and the Masao Horiba Award from HORIBA, Ltd. (2011). His research interests are in the development of micro- and nano-systems for chemical, biochemical, and clinical applications.
Joel Voldman, Associate editor
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8898-2296
Professor Joel Voldman is a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering summa cum laude from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1995. He received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from MIT in 1997 and 2001, respectively. Professor Voldman performed postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School before joining the MIT faculty in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 2002.
Professor Voldman’s current research interests focus on BioMEMS, applying microfabrication technology to illuminate biological systems, ranging from point-of-care diagnostics to fundamental cell biology to applied neuroengineering. His research builds upon various disciplines: electrical engineering, microfabrication, bioengineering, transport modeling, biology, and medicine. His group takes a quantitative approach to designing technology, using both analytical and numerical modeling to gain fundamental understanding of the technologies that we create. He then takes designs from fabrication to assay.
Aaron Wheeler, Associate editor
University of Toronto, Canada
ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5230-7475
Aaron Wheeler earned his PhD in Chemistry at Stanford University in 2003. After a postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA, he joined the faculty at the University of Toronto in 2005, where he is the Canada Research Chair in Bioanalytical Chemistry. Wheeler’s research group develops microfluidic tools to solve problems in chemistry, biology, and medicine. Wheeler has been recognized with a number of honors including the E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship from the Canadian National Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Arthur F. Findeis Award from the American Chemical Society, and the Joseph Black Award from the Royal Society of Chemistry. Wheeler has served as an Associate Editor of Lab on a Chip since 2013, and has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications. Learn about the Wheeler group online http://microfluidics.utoronto.ca/ or on twitter at @Wheeler_Lab.
Dino Di Carlo
University of California at Los Angeles, USA
ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3942-4284
Dr. Di Carlo is Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Bioengineering and a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at UCLA. He also directs the Cancer Nanotechnology Program of the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is a pioneer in using inertial fluid dynamic effects to manipulate cells and assess the biomechanical properties of single cells in microfluidic devices. He has also been a leader in technology entrepreneurship as a co-founder and scientific advisor for four early stage companies commercializing intellectual property developed in this laboratory. Among other honors he is a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award, and a Packard Fellowship. He is the only person to be honored by the microfluidics community with both the Analytical Chemistry Young Innovator Award and Pioneers of Miniaturization Prize. He is an elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK).
Dr. Di Carlo received his B.S. and Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of California Berkeley and conducted his postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School.
Xudong Fan
University of Michigan, USA
ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0149-1326
Prof. Fan obtained B.S. and M.S. from Peking University (China) in 1991 and 1994, respectively, and Ph.D. in physics and optics from the University of Oregon (USA) in 2000. Between 2000 and 2004, he was a project leader at 3M Company. In 2004, he joined the Department of Biological Engineering at the University of Missouri as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2009. In January of 2010, he joined the Biomedical Engineering Department at the University of Michigan and was promoted to Full Professor in 2014. Presently he is Professor under the College of Engineering and School of Medicine.
Prof. Fan’s research lies at the interface of photonics, physics, engineering, micro/nanofluidics, nano-/biotechnologies, and biomedicine. He has >120 peer-reviewed publications and >20 issued/pending patents. Presently, he serves on the Editorial Board of Lab on a Chip under Royal Society of Chemistry.
Prof. Fan is a recipient of 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award, the Wallace H. Coulter Early Career Award, and the National Science Foundation CAREER Award. He is Fellow of Optical Society of America and Royal Society of Chemistry.
Piotr Garstecki
Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Science, Poland
Piotr Garstecki is a Full Professor at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Science, in Warsaw, Poland. He obtained an MSc in Theoretical Physics from the College of Science of the Polish Academy in 1998 and a PhD in Chemistry from the Institute of Physical Chemistry PAS. He later conducted research as a postdoctoral fellow in the group of Prof. George Whitesides at the Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department at Harvard University. He currently leads the Research Group of Microfluidics and Complex Fluids at the Institute of Physical Chemistry in Warsaw. The group conducts research on fundamental aspects of the physics of soft matter systems and develops microfluidic tools for chemistry and biology. He coauthored over a hundred scientific publications and multiple patent applications and cofounded two spin-out companies both working on the use of microfluidic technologies in medical diagnostics.
Mark Gilligan
Dolomite, UK
Mark studied Aerospace engineering at Cranfield, and after that worked in both Formula 1 for Benetton and Aerospace for BAE Commercial aircraft. Mark then went on to work for Pitney Bowes in the US developing franking machines and Philips in the Netherlands developing the first DVD drives. In 1997 Mark moved to work for a technology consulting consultancy called The Technology Partnership (TTP) and started working on the interfaces between Engineering and Life Sciences. The outcome of a major TTP project was sold to Mettler Toledo and a new business unit was formed and built with Mark leading the R&D of that new company. Once this company was built in 2000, Mark moved into New Ventures for Mettler, investigating and acquiring businesses in automated chemistry.
In 2001 Mark left Mettler Toledo to found Syrris, which has now grown to be a world leader in cutting edge tools and technologies for synthetic chemistry, including microreactors. As Syrris grew, a number of multipurpose microfluidics technologies were developed and an increasingly diverse range of partners sought to access them. This led to the formation of Dolomite Microfluidics in 2005, which then won a large UK government grant to create a Microfluidic Application Centre. This trend of starting new brands has carried on and now Mark is the CEO of the Blacktrace Group of companies which includes Syrris, Dolomite and a number of other brands which are all collectively focussed on Productisation of Science.
Albert van den Berg
University of Twente, the Netherlands
Albert van den Berg received his MSc in applied physics in 1983, and his PhD in 1988 both at the University of Twente, the Netherlands. From 1988-1993 he worked in Neuchatel, Switzerland, at the CSEM and the University (IMT) on miniaturized chemical sensors. From 1993 until 1999 he was research director Micro Total Analysis Systems (µTAS) at MESA, University of Twente. In 1998 he was appointed as part-time professor "Biochemical Analysis Systems", and later in 2000 as full professor on Miniaturized Systems for (Bio)Chemical Analysis in the faculty of Electrical Engineering. He received several honors and awards such as Simon Stevin (2002), ERC Advanced (2008) and ERC Proof of Concept (2011) grant, Spinoza prize (2009) and Honorary University Professorship (2010). He has co-authored over 225 papers (H=41) and over 10 patents, and has been involved in 6 spin-off companies. In 2011 he became a board member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (KNAW). His current research interests focus on microanalysis systems and nanosensors, nanofluidics and single cells and tissues on chips, especially with applications in personalized health care and development of sustainable (nano)technologies.
