Grant: Canada Research Chairs

Diagnostics are an essential part of the healthcare system. Early and accurate detection of disease indicators is vital for reducing transmission, prophylaxis, and successful treatments. One of the ways to improve diagnostics is faster and improved testing, which can support large population screening and improve healthcare responsiveness. There is a growing demand for simultaneous (parallel) multiplexed immunoassays in the same sample, to allow testing for multiple diseases concurrently. Building upon his previous work, Dr. Dae Kun Hwang will develop and design innovative biomedical platforms utilizing functionalized smart polymeric materials: i) a hydrogel-membrane microfluidic chip for a highly rapid multiplex immunoassay, and ii) a sieved-microwell microfluidic chip for cell capture and single cell analysis. Dr. Hwang’s invention of a highly rapid and simultaneous multiplexed immunoassay platform, based on a hydrogel membrane, will detect and quantify various biomarkers concurrently in the same sample. Microfluidics also require smaller samples, are cheaper, and easier to automate. These advantages will greatly reduce testing and detection time. Dr. Hwang has recently developed an unprecedented microfluidic fabrication method which will enable this testing. Microwells have emerged as a potential candidate for a wide range of applications, including single cell analysis, as they can capture a well-defined number of cells for study. Individual cells captured in microwells can be investigated for environmental responses, leading to discoveries of biochemical functions and cellular mechanisms, and can form the basis for drug discovery, diagnostics, cancer research, and regenerative medicine. A well-defined number of cancer cells trapped in microwells can be used as an effective model for drug testing. Dr. Hwang has developed a device for efficient cell trapping by crossflow, which provides great control not only by the number of cells but also shape, unseen in other microwell devices. This can be also effective for circulating tumor cell (CTC) detection. Dr. Hwang is developing scalable fabrication to make the CTC detection platform both low-cost and high throughput. He is also designing a microwell platform to facilitate uniformly-sized tumour spheroid capture, which is essential in drug testing. Dr. Hwang's innovative and versatile biomedical tools will allow him to improve the quality of healthcare and wellbeing on a large scale.