Lab Introduction

To improve efficiency in laboratory diagnostics, there has been a trend towards more decentralized diagnostics, which occurs directly at patients' bedside, in outpatient clinics, or at sites of accidents, so-called point-of-care (POC) testings. The patient mainly does POC testing, so short turnaround time, minimum sample preparation, long-term reagent storage, user-friendly analytical instruments, and visible quantitative or semi-quantitative single readout are crucial. Our research group addresses the need to develop functionalized nanomaterials-assisted silicon, polymer, and paper-based analytical platforms. They have been utilized for biomedical sensing and analysis in resource-limited settings based on their low sample volume requirement advantages, rapid detection, cost-effectiveness, portability, and high integration. Moreover, different sensing components, including device fabrication, surface chemistry, signal amplification, and biomolecular recognition, are also investigated. We have successfully shown that our proposed fidget-spinner-based system, three-dimensional surface-modified origami-paper-based analytical device platform, a semiconductor sensor, and the hybrid microfluidic system can provide sensitive, high-throughput and on-site environmental and disease monitoring in resource-limited settings.