C. H. Chen’s Lab
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Dr. Chen’s team (Integrative Microfluidics in Biotechnology, IMB) in City University of Hong Kong is focused on developing integrative microfluidic devices for biomedical applications. Compared with most platforms using gene sequence for quantitative biology, the functional assay offers unique advantages for the rapid characterization of biological samples for diagnosis and timely precision medicine. Research focus: Microfluidics, Single Cell Analysis, Biological Screening, Smart Hydrogel Micro-captures.
News: We are actively recruiting students who are interested in studying PhD in City University of Hong Kong. If you are interested in applying, please send your CV to Dr. Chia-Hung Chen: chiachen@cityu.edu.hk.
News:
11th February 2024: Innovation and Technology Fund, Partnership Research Programme (PRP) is in-principal funded (2.2M HKD; 4 ITH) (PI: Dr. Chen)
27th November 2023: New paper (by Ying Xu) is accepted to be published in Analytical Chemistry: “Single-Cell Secretion Analysis via Microfluidic Cell Membrane Immunosorbent Assay for Immune Profiling”.
25th November 2023: New paper (by Zheng Dan) is accepted to be published in Lab on a Chip: “Graphene Oxide Aptasensor Droplet Assay for Detection of Metabolites Secreted by Single Cells Applied to Synthetic Biology”.
3rd August 2023: New paper (by Jia Liu) is accepted to be published in Nanoscale: “Evaluation of exogenous therapeutic protein activity under confinement and crowding effects”.
30th June 2023: General Research Fund (GRF) (PI: Dr. Chen) is funded.
24th February 2023: Stanford’s top 2% most highly cited scientist (Dr. Chen)
31st January 2023: New paper (by Guoyun) is accepted to be published in Biosensors and Bioelectronics: “Recent progress in high-throughput droplet screening and sorting for bioanalysis”.
31st January 2023: Research Impact Fund (RIF)(Co-I: Dr. Chen) is funded.
30th December 2022: Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) (Intelligent microfluidic screen system to fabricate artificial pancreas for diabetes treatments, PI: Dr. Chen) is recommended for funding (1.5M HKD; 4 ITH).
1st December 2022: New paper (by Hou Yi, Baihao) is accepted to be published in Advanced Materials: “Photonic Crystal-Integrated Optoelectronic Devices with Naked-Eye Visualization and Digital Readout for High-Resolution Detection of Ultratrace Analytes”.
2nd August 2022: New paper (by Qingsong Mei) is accepted to be published in Nature Communications: “Excitation energy mediated cross-relaxation for tunable upconversion luminescence from a single lanthanide ion”.
6th July 2022: New paper (by Hongliang Tan) is in principle accepted to be published in Nature Communications: “Adenosine triphosphate-activated prodrug system for on-demand bacterial inactivation and wound disinfection”.
1st July 2022: General Research Fund (GRF) (PI: Dr. Chen) is funded (1M HKD).
10th June 2022: New paper (by Xiufeng, Baihao) is accepted to be published in Biomaterials: “Future Foods: Design, Fabrication and Production through Microfluidics”.
28th May 2022: New paper (by Nicholas Lin) is accepted to be published in Lab on a Chip: “Rapid microfluidic platform for screening and enrichment of cells secreting virus neutralizing antibodies”.
15th May 2022: Lab on a Chip outstanding peer reviewer 2021 (Dr. Chen)
11th May 2022: CityU Strategic Interdisciplinary Research Grant (SIRG)(PI: Dr. Chen) is recommended for funding (200000 HKD)
1st April 2022: Applied Research Grant (ARG) (Portable Wireless Microfluidic Device for Sensitive Rapid Blood Prick Test Towards Telemedicine, PI: Dr. Chen) is recommended for funding (250000 HKD).
18th March 2022: Health and Medical Research Fund (HMRF) (Single-cell hydrogel droplet screening to investigate intratumor heterogeneity for precision cancer intervention, PI: Dr. Chen) is recommended for funding (1.5M HKD).
18th November 2021: New paper (by Sophie Wan Mei Lian, Guo Song, Kewei Ren, Xu Ying et al.) is accepted to be published in Nanoscale: “Heterogeneous multi-compartmental DNA hydrogel particles through microfluidic assembly for lymphocyte inspired precision medicine”.
10th October 2021: New paper (by Hongliang Tan et al.) is published in Chemical Engineering Journal: “Hybrid hydrogel reactor with metal–organic framework for biomimetic cascade catalysis”.
29th March 2021: New paper (by Yuji and Jin Lin) is accepted to be published in Science Advances: “A flexible multiplexed immunosensor for point-of-care in situ wound monitoring”.
14th February 2021: New paper (by Xu Yu and Guoyun) is published in Scientific Reports: “Organic nanoparticle-doped microdroplets as dual-modality contrast agents for ultrasound microvascular flow and photoacoustic imaging”.
12th February 2021: New paper (by Zeming and Lu Ri) is accepted to be published in Analytical Chemistry: “Multiplexed Single Cell Leukocyte Enzymatic Secretion Profiling from Whole Blood Reveals Patient Specific Immune Signature”.
30th January 2021: New paper (Dr. Chen cooperates with Prof. Yoon at The University of Arizona) is accepted to be published in Biomicrofluidics: “Microfluidic Sample Preparation for Respiratory Virus Detection: A Review”.
20th January 2021: New paper (by Ming) is accepted to be published in Lab on a Chip: “High-Throughput Functional Profiling of Single Adherent Cells via Hydrogel Drop-Screen”.
28th November 2020: A book chapter (Ch6: The Drop-screen for Biological Functional Assay) by Shih-Chung and Myat Noe Hsu is published in a text book (Droplet Microfluidics, Royal Society of Chemistry).
11th November 2020: New paper (by Ahmad and Shih-Chung) is accepted to be published in Biomicrofluidics: “Microfluidic Compartmentalization to Identify Gene Biomarkers of Infection”.
1st October 2020: NSFC grant is awarded: Integrative microfluidic liquid biopsy assay for rapid diagnosis of infection causing multiorgan failure (600000 RMB) (PI: Dr. Chen).
1st October 2020: New paper (by Ee Xien and Krystyn J. Van Vliet) is accepted to be published in Biotechnology Journal: “Dissolvable gelatin-based microcarriers generated through droplet microfluidics for expansion and culture of mesenchymal stromal cells”.
24th June 2020: New paper (by Duy) is accepted to be published in Lab on a Chip: “Functional Reservoir Microcapsules Generated via Microfluidic Fabrication for Long-Term Cardiovascular Therapeutics”.
8th June 2020: New paper (by Nicholas) is accepted to be published in Cells: “The role of single cell technology in the study and control of infectious diseases”.
7th May 2020: New paper (by Guoyun and Teng Yao) is accepted to be published in Analytical Chemistry: “Functional Stem Cell Sorting via Integrative Droplet Synchronization”.
13th April 2020: New paper (by Liu Jia) is accepted to be published in Lab on a Chip: “Nanoplasmon-Enhanced Drop-Screen for High Throughput Single-Cell Nucleocytoplasmic miRNA Profiling”.
30th December 2019: New paper (by Jiaqing and Guoyun) is accepted to be published in Lab on a Chip: “Intelligent Optofluidic Analysis for Ultrafast Single Bacterium Profiling of Cellulose Production and Morphology”. [link]
10 December 2019: Dr. Chen is appointed as an Editorial Board in Biomicrofluidics.
26 Aug 2019: New paper (by Shih-Chung) is accepted to be published in Biosensors and Bioelectronics: “Plasmonic Droplet-Screen for Single-Cell Secretion Analysis”. [link]
26 Jul 2019: New book chapter (by Dr. Chen) is published: “Single-cell assays using integrated continuous-flow microfluidics”[link].
11 May 2019: New paper (by Dr. Chen) is published on Lab on a Chip: “Outstanding Reviewers for Lab on a Chip in 2018”[link]
2 May 2019: New paper is accepted to be published in Materials Science and Technology: “Hydrogel Coatings for Heart Stents”.[link]
8 Mar 2019: New paper (by Dr. Chen) is accepted to be published in Nature Communications: “Upconversion Amplification through Dielectric Superlensing Modulation”.[link]
27 Feb 2019: New paper (by Rongcong) is accepted to be published in Small: “Remotely Controlled Transformable Soft Robot based on Engineered Cardiac Tissue Construct”.[link]
26 Feb 2019:New paper (by Yingying) is accepted to be published in IEEE Sensors Journal: “Sub-micro Particle Matter Detection for Metal 3D Printing Workshop”.[link]
1 Feb 2019: Hsu successfully completed her PhD defense. She joined SMART (Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology) as a Research Fellow. Congratulations!
3 JAN 2019: New paper (by Hsu) is accepted to be published in Advanced Healthcare Materials: “Nano-in-Micro Smart Hydrogel Composite for a Rapid Sensitive Immunoassay”. [link]
19 DEC 2018: NRF SBP grant (PI: Dr. Chen) awarded: Plasmonic Drop-Screen of Immunoassay for Metabolic Engineering (1,506,400 SGD).
22 OCT 2018: New paper (by Ee Xien and Guoyun) is accepted to be published in Analytical Chemistry: “Ultrafast Single-Cell Level Enzymatic Tumor Profiling”. [link]
10 OCT 2018: New paper (by Hsu) is accepted to be published in Small: “Smart Hydrogel Microfluidics for Single-Cell Multiplexed Secretomic Analysis with High Sensitivity”. [link]
3 SEP 2018: New paper (by Dr. Chen) is published on Lab on a Chip: “Outstanding Reviewers for Lab on a Chip in 2017”. [link]
6 JUN 2018: New paper accepted for publiscation in Optics Express: “Photothermal generation of programmable microbubble array on nanoporous gold disks”. [link]
31 MAY 2018: Dr. Chen was nominated as an outstanding reviewer of Lab on a Chip in 2017. [link]
25 MAY 2018: New paper (by Song) accepted on Lab on a Chip: “Ultrahigh-throughput Droplet Microfluidic Device for Single-cell miRNA Detection with Isothermal Amplification”. [link]
19 JAN 2018: New paper (by Song) accepted on Scientific Reports: “Polymerization-Induced Phase Separation Formation of Structured Hydrogel Particles via Microfluidics for Scar Therapeutics”. [link]
21 DEC 2017: New paper (by Phan) accepted on Lab on a Chip: “Buffer-free integrative nanofluidic device for real-time continuous flow bioassays by ion concentration polarization”. [link]
15 DEC 2017: NMRC OFIRG grant (PI) awarded: Drop-Screen: A functional screening platform to investigate mechanisms of innate resistance, and metastasis for personalised therapeutic intervention (720K SGD).
5 AUG 2017: Video introduction of Duy’s paper “Effective Light Directed Assembly of Building Blocks with Microscale Control” is available on Youtube. [link]
22 JUL 2017: New paper (by Tan Hongliang) is accepted to be published in Nature Communications: “Heterogeneous multi-compartmental hydrogel particles as synthetic cells for incompatible tandem reactions”. [link]
19 JUL 2017: Duy’s work (Effective Light Directed Assembly of Building Blocks with Microscale Control) was featured in 3D printer and 3D printing news (3ders.org); 3Dprint.com, 3dprintingindustry.com and NanoHybrid.
5 MAY 2017: NRF CRP (PI, Microfluidics theme) grant awarded: Green and Sustainable Pharmaceutical Manufacturing via Biocatalysis.
3 MAY 2017: New paper (by Rongcong) is accepted to be published in Biomicrofluidics: “Fast-Responsive Hydrogel as an Injectable Pump for Rapid On-demand Fluidic Flow Control”. [link]
24 MAR 2017: New paper (by Duy) is accepted to be published in Small: “Effective Light Directed Assembly of Building Blocks with Microscale Control”. [link]
8 FEB 2017: Tier-2 (PI) grant awarded: Injectable Wireless Micro-Device for Deep Tissue Bioassay and Therapeutics. Tier-2 (Co-PI) grant: New biotransformations with epoxide isomerase for green chemical synthesis.
Integrated Microfluidic Biotechnology 