Vibrating Sharp-edge Spray Ionization (VSSI)​

The development of miniaturized and field portable mass spectrometers could not succeed without a simple, compact, and robust ionization source. Our group developed a voltage-free ionization method, Vibrating Sharp-edge Spray Ionization (VSSI), which can generate a spray of liquid samples using only one standard microscope glass slide to which a piezoelectric transducer is attached. Compared to existing ambient ionization methods, VSSI eliminates the need of a high electric field (~5000 V·cm-1) for spray generation, while sharing a similar level of simplicity and flexibility with the simplest direct ionization techniques currently available such as paper spray ionization (PSI).

Microscale Fluid and Particle Manipulation

Microscale fluid and particle manipulation are fundamental components of microfluidics. The advancement of many microfluidic applications such as gradient generation, droplet mcirofluidics, single cell analysis, and cell separation relies on innovative ways of better controlling the fluid and particles. Our group is interested in exploring new possibilities in acoustofluidics, dielectrophoresis, and material properties to develop novel and effective methods for fluid and particle manipulation.    

Point of Care Diagnosis

Developing portable diagnostic and sensing platform is extremely important to the success of personalized medicine, and the delivery of high quality healthcare to wider populations. Although many portable diagnostic technologies have been proposed and developed, such as lateral flow immunoassay, paper microfluidics, and cell phone based imaging and detection, most of these methods are still difficult to achieve similar level of accuracy and reliability as those performed in a clinical laboratory. We are tackling this challenge by leveraging our expertise in microfluidic liquid handling, sample preparation, and assay development.