RESEARCH
Research focus:
Analytical Chemistry, Material Science, Medical Device
Research fields:
Micro and nano fabrication
Microfluidics MEMS MicroTAS
Imprinting and self-assembly
Functional materials and surface engineering
Novel separation method on microchip
Ultra high sensitivity detection
High throughput analysis
Miniaturization and integration
Microfluidic cell sorting and manipulation
Diagnostic Medical Device
Tissue engineering
Single cell analysis
Illustrated Description of Research Experience:
The Mother Nature is a boundless treasury for us to learn from. Through billion years evolvement, living creatures developed countless amazing features to survive the dynamic and sometimes harsh living environment. For instance, some have means to keep clean in an extremely effective and efficient way, and they use capillary systems to smartly support and control the metabolic process of organs. Collaborating with multiple groups worldwide, Dr. Ren’s group invents bio-mimicking materials and devices for smart coatings and novel analytical/ biomedical usage. They develop novel microfabrication technologies for polymeric materials, with which they create self-cleaning coatings unprecedentedly reliable. Additionally, they develop microfluidic devices that are solvent-resistant and anti-fouling, which realize quantitative biological analysis and organic-phase synthesis using the unique physical characters in microscopic world. Finally, they also create devices with biomaterials to mimic the tissue/organ level environment for biomedical studies. Such devices are used for point-of-care analysis, novel diagnosis, drug discovery, and nanomaterial synthesis.
Quantitative applications of microfluidics have promising potential in various fields, e.g., point-of-care and high-throughput chemical or biological analysis, drug screening, trace analysis, single-cell level research. Organic-phase microfluidics could greatly expand the research and applications of droplets, flow reaction, reaction dynamics research, crystallization, separation and concentration, etc. Biological analysis is a major field to utilize the advantage of microfluidic technology with precise control of very small volume of liquid to realize unmet need in-single cell research, cancer study, diagnosis, tissue engineering, and drug discovery. Centering on this goal, the Ren group worked on several projects ranging from advanced microfabrication technology to on-chip detection and analysis.
