Helab:Research

Our principle research interests lie in understanding and controlling the thermal stability of biologicals with applications in modern living cell-based medicine and biotechnology. In particular, our efforts focus on understanding the fundamental biotransport and biomechanical phenomena, leading to new strategies for (1), minimally invasive thermal surgery for the treatment of diseases such as cancer and (2), long-term biostabilization (or biopreservation) of important biologicals such as embryonic stem (ES) cells and oocytes/sperm. Figure 1 shows schematically the principle of cancer thermotherapy and cell preservation.

Fig. 1. A schematic demonstration of cancer thermal surgery and cell preservation Cell preservation is an enabling technology for modern pharmaceutical and cell based medicine such as tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and assisted reproductive technology. Minimally invasive thermal surgery (using laser, high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), microwave, radio frequency, and cryo) to destroy unwanted cells and tissue is becoming increasingly popular for the treatment of diseases in essentially all surgical sub-specialties. Both micro and nanotechnology have been extensively applied in our research (Fig. 2) to explore the amazing nature of the many biomedical processes at the micro and nanoscale that determine the outcomes at the macroscale in both cell preservation and minimally invasive thermal surgery.

Fig. 2. Cell encapsulation in small microcapsules (left) and cellular uptake of nanoparticles (labeled as green, right) synthesized in our lab. Our group develops expertise in a variety of experimental techniques such as micro and nanoencapsulation for controlled and sustained delivery of therapeutic and protective agents; cell and tissue culture; light, phase, fluorescence, polarization, cryo, and freeze-dry microscopy; bio-thermometric analysis; and optical scanning calorimetry. Our group also develops complementary multi-scale, multi-physics modeling approaches to study biotransport and biomechanics that are at times difficult to explore experimentally.