Principal Investigator Joel Voldman
Co-investigator Jongyoon Han
Project Website http://www.rle.mit.edu/biomicro/
The RLE Biological Microtechnology and BioMEMS Group performs research on microfluidics applied to fundamental and applied problems in cell biology. Our interests are specifically in cell sorting and stem cell biology. We take a quantitative approach to technology design, and take projects all the way from engineering design to fabrication to elucidating biological information with our technology.
The Group performs research at the intersection of biology and microtechnology, applying microfabrication technology to illuminate biological systems, especially at the cellular level. Specifically, we develop technologies that enhance or enable the acquisition of information from cells.
Research builds upon various disciplines: electrical engineering, microfabrication, bioengineering, surface science, fluid mechanics, mass transport, etc. We take a quantitative approach to designing the technology, using both analytical and numerical modeling to gain fundamental understanding of the technologies that we create. We then take the designs through microfabrication to packaging and testing and to biological assay.
Research has four foci:(1) Electrical and optical technologies for image-based cell sorting(2) Enabling technologies for stem cell biology(3) Electrical cell separation(4) Studying the impact of microsystems on cell physiology