Special Chemical Engineering Seminar

In this talk, I will present nanoscale biophotonics for fundamental life sciences and translational precision medicine.  First, I will introduce a quantum nanoscope that allows non-invasive optical imaging of electron-transfer (ET) dynamics in live cells. The quantum nanoscope is designed to capture the real-time ET imaging of enzymes using Plasmon Resonance Energy Transfer (PRET) mechanism and quantized plasmon quenching dips in resonant Rayleigh scattering spectra.  Second, I will discuss photonic gene circuits for noninvasive gene regulations in living organism and gene therapy. Since the activation of transcription factor NF-kB plays a central role in the regulation of inflammation, immune responses, infections, differentiation, proliferation, oncogenesis, and apoptosis, precise spatiotemporal controls of NF-kB signaling pathway by optically addressable siRNA-antennas will have significant implications in precision medicine.  Third, I will discuss the important role of nanoscale biophotonics in ultrafast photonic PCR and integrated molecular diagnostic systems (iMDx) for personalized precision medicine, and microphysiological analysis platforms (iMAPs) for drug discovery and regenerative medicine.  The iMDx comprises three key elements of precision medicine on chip: rapid photonic PCR for the early detection of DNA and RNA biomarkers, plasmonic signal amplifications of protein markers, and a self-contained sample preparation from whole blood, which allows a sample-to-answer readout platform. If time permits, our progress on patient-specific iPSCs-based iMAP, pancreatic islets and mini-brains on chip will be discussed along with the vision of preventive medicine via precision engineering in medicine.