Research Area
As a researcher specializing in biological engineering, my academic footprint is firmly rooted in the future of sustainable agriculture and food systems. With a focus on improving food production and food safety, my research program is to develop bioengineering and biosensing approaches that can be applied to treat and detect emerging pathogens in agricultural and food systems. The developed innovative technologies are important in solving the critical and emerging issues in sustainable agriculture and food systems, aiming to provide sufficient, safe, and high-quality food for human consumption. The major research topics include:
- CRISPR-based biosensors for the ultra-accurate detection of disease-related SNPs
- Recycle plastic waste using engineered yeasts displaying plastic-degrading enzymes
- Digital nanofluidic chip for simple and highly quantitative detection of foodborne pathogens
- Novel nanosensors for the rapid and sensitive detection of animal diseases
- Improving the limit of norovirus detection using engineered yeasts to concentrate viral particles
- Development of novel approaches to detect and treat sepsis
- Intelligent and integrated greenhouse gas removal with controlled environment agriculture
- Development of CREEPs for the detection of indicator bacteria in agricultural water
CRISPR
Each year, ~10 point mutations occur in bacterial genome. Consequently, the point mutants could increase the bacteria antibiotic-resistant ability, alter the bacteria virulence, or produce unknown bacteria toxins. The traditional DNA detection method (quantitative PCR) would fail to detect point mutation in bacteria genome. Although next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology is highly sensitive and selective for the detection of a point mutation, it requires an extremely long-time frame (2-3 weeks) to obtain sequencing information. Also, expensive instrumentation and skilled operators are required to conduct such complicated experiments. These limitations of the conventional methods (qPCR and NGS) make it impossible to quickly detect DNA point mutation. As part of my research platform, I will develop and apply CRISPR-based biosensors to detect point mutation for disease.
Phage
During the detection of target pathogens in clinical samples, recognition elements are required to recognize target bacteria cells. Antibodies and aptamers are the most commonly used elements in the bioanalytical system to capture bacteria cells for enumeration and identification. Unfortunately, their disadvantages (e.g. relatively high cost and inconsistencies from batch to batch) have led to research towards alternative recognition elements. Unlike conventional antibodies and aptamers, bacteriophages (also named phages, bacteria-infecting viruses) are relatively easy and inexpensive to synthesize and purify. As part of my research platform, my research will explore phage-based biosensors to rapidly detect pathogenic bacteria in real samples.
Nanotechnology
A practical and efficient mean to separate biological and chemical contaminants remains the bottleneck for biosensor-based detection in realsystem. Without an effective separation method, the need to rapidly and sensitively detect emerging contaminants in real samples will go unmet. The conventional separation methods (e.g., centrifugation, filtration, and chromatography) require extended periods of time and may not be suitable for the complexed samples. Thus, there exists a need to separate these contaminant analytes in a manner which will facilitate both analyte identification and enumeration. In recent decades, nanomaterials (less than 100 nm) have attracted wide attention due to their unique physical and chemical properties. To improve early detection of contaminants, my research will explore the utilization of innovative nanoscale magnetic biosensors for the separation and detection of emerging contaminants.
