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.

Our work on combining microtoroid optical resonators with photothermal microscopy to detect single 5 nm quantum dots with a signal-to-noise ratio > 10^4 without the use of labels has been published in Light: Science & Applications. We thank an NIGMS R35 grant and the Gordon & Betty Moore foundation for support. We anticipate our work will have applications in a variety of fields including the biological sciences, nanotechnology, materials science, chemistry, and medicine.

Single 5-nm quantum dot detection via microtoroid optical resonator photothermal microscopy | Light: Science & Applications (nature.com)

Our paper entitled “Ultra-high-Q free-space coupling to microtoroid resonators” (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41377-024-01418-0) was selected by Light: Science as Applications as the Top Downloaded Paper in April 2024. We’d like to thank the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) for its sponsorship and support.

Congratulations to the newest PhD in our lab! Dr. Adley Gin successfully defended his thesis, “Early Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease and Studying Kappa Opioid Receptors Using Whispering Gallery Mode Microtoroid Biosensors” on April 4th. This work was funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Aging, and the Arizona Alzheimer’s Consortium.

Glad to have the opportunity to share the latest findings from my lab to students and faculty at UCSD NanoEngineering / Chemical Engineering on May 15th, 2024. I’m looking forward to learning more from my host institution as well.

Ultra-sensitive, selective, and label-free optical sensing for fundamental science, environmental monitoring, and translational medicine | Department of NanoEngineering (ucsd.edu)

We are pleased to host an Optica Incubator on Frequency Combs for Chemical, Biological, and Medical Applications on October 9-11, 2024, at Optica Headquarters in Washington DC. I look forward to forging many wonderful collaborations to rapidly advance this field.

Optica Incubator on Frequency Combs for Chemical, Biological, and Medical Applications | Optica

Our work on ultra-high-Q free-space coupling to microtoroid optical resonators has been published in Light: Science & Applications. We thank the Defense Threat Reduction Agency for their generous funding support.

Ultra-high-Q free-space coupling to microtoroid resonators | Light: Science & Applications (nature.com)

Honored to receive the Journal of Physics Photonics 2023 Early Career Award. One winner is selected from their emerging leaders issue. Our paper was entitled, “Impact of stimulated Raman scattering on dark soliton generation in a silica microresonator.”

IOPscience – Emerging Leaders 2023

Congrats to Shuang who successfully defended his dissertation on “Fundamentals and Applications of Label-Free FLOWER-Based Sensing for Ultra-sensitive Detection of Single Particles and Molecules” earlier today.

Glad to be selected to participate in the Second U.S.- Africa Frontiers of Science, Engineering and Medicine Symposium organized by U.S. National Academies held in partnership with the Hassan II Academy of Sciences and Technologies, on January 16-18, 2024, in Rabat, Morocco.