Glad that our latest paper has been selected to be featured on Nature Protocol’s website.

Happy to share our latest paper: “Frequency locked whispering evanescent resonator (FLOWER) for biochemical sensing applications” which is now available online in Nature Protocols. Thanks to my diligent lab and generous sponsors who’ve allowed us to continuously improve our platform.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41596-024-01096-7

Honored to have been elected as a Fellow of SPIE. I would like to express my gratitude for the support of my peers, my sponsors, and the diligent efforts of my talented group.

https://spie.org/news/spie-the-international-society-for-optics-and-photonics-announces-its-2025-fellows

Happy to share our latest work: “Whispering gallery mode optical resonators for biological and chemical detection: current practices, future perspectives, and challenges” which is now available online in Reports on Progress in Physics:

https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6633/ad99e7

It was an honor to be awarded an ASME rising star award at the ASME IMECE conference in Portland, Oregon. Thanks for all the support.

Glad to share our latest work in PNAS

Agonist activation to open the Gα subunit of the GPCR–G protein precoupled complex defines functional agonist activation of TAS2R5 | PNAS

Our study reveals the underlying molecular mechanisms of ligand-induced activation in the human bitter taste receptor TAS2R5. Despite similar binding energies, significant variations in agonist potencies were observed. Using live cell-based assays, optical resonators, and molecular dynamics simulations, we found that the activation energy of the opening of the Gα subunit for GDP–GTP exchange, rather than binding affinity alone, correlates highly with agonist potency. This finding refines our understanding of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) activation, paving the way for the rational design of new therapeutic agents targeting these receptors.

Our article on screening for Alzheimer’s disease was highlighted on the front page of npj Biosensing.

Towards early diagnosis and screening of Alzheimer’s disease using frequency locked whispering gallery mode microtoroids | npj Biosensing

Our last work on taste receptors with Bill Goddard’s group at Caltech, Cargill, Cube Biotech, and the Université de Bourgogne-Franche Compté has been published in Communications Chemistry.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s42004-024-01324-x

These studies can guide rational design of novel non-caloric sweeteners aimed at enabling lower sugar usage levels while retaining the sweet taste. This may provide the basis for novel therapeutic applications for treatment of obesity and related metabolic dysfunctions such as diabetes.

We thank the NIH and Cargill, Inc for financial support.

Our lastest work on label-free characterization of GPCR interactions at extremely low (zeptomolar) concentrations has been published in Nature Communications. We thank an NIGMS R35 grant and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for support.

Label-free, real-time monitoring of membrane binding events at zeptomolar concentrations using frequency-locked optical microresonators | Nature Communications

I am happy to share our first paper on the early diagnosis and screening of Alzheimer’s disease.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s44328-024-00009-8

In this study, we utilize the ultra-sensitivity of FLOWER (frequency-locked optical whispering evanescent resonator) to quantify levels of the Alzheimer’s disease (AD) biomarker Aβ42 in post-mortem cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from control, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and AD participants. We demonstrate FLOWER’s capability to effectively screen CSF samples for AD diagnosis. Measuring Aβ levels can facilitate early AD diagnosis and support drug studies and efforts to delay dementia. FLOWER was able to distinguish healthy cognitively unimpaired participants from those with MCI and AD, marking an important advancement in early diagnosis.

We would like to thank an NIGMS R35 grant, an NIA NIH R03 grant, and the Arizona Alzheimer’s Consortium for their generous support, which made this investigation possible.