Miniaturization of benchtop laboratory procedures allows for a reduction in reagent costs while exploiting fundamental physical principles to allow for sensitive diagnostic tests. These high precision and automated platforms allow for complex immunoassays to be conducted on low concentration samples with low levels of result variability.

At the University of Arizona, I started my work in Biomedical Engineering where I worked to develop an antibody-coated microfluidic channel. Later during my Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, I specialized in microfabrication (PVD, CVD, lithography, DRIE, etc.) and design of microfluidic devices that were capable of detecting COPD antigen from clinical samples, concentrate circulating tumor cells (CTCs), and monitor the chemoelectrical properties of bacteria in real-time.

By modeling channel designs in finite element analysis software (ANSYS, COMSOL), computational simulations of device performance could be assessed prior to fabrication, facilitating rapid prototyping. Designs have been published in Nature Communications and ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering.