Yu-Jui Chiu

• Ph.D. Materials Science and Engineering
• Associate Scientist at Oregon Health & Science University

We have demonstrated a microfluidic device that can not only achieve three-dimensional flow focusing but also confine particles to the center stream along the channel. The device has a sample channel of smaller height and two sheath flow channels of greater height, merged into the downstream main channel where 3D focusing effects occur. We have dem...

To understand the inhomogeneity of cells in biological systems, there is a growing demand on the capability of characterizing the properties of individual single cells. Since single‐cell studies require continuous monitoring of the cell behaviors, an effective single‐cell assay that can support time lapsed studies in a high throughput manner is des...

Technologies that facilitate analyses of circulating biomarkers from blood for cancer detection are powerful tools for improving patient outcomes. Circulating biomarkers derived directly from the primary tumor have been identified including circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and circulating hybrid cells (CHCs), described to harbor phenotypes of both tu...

Proteases are promising biomarkers for cancer early detection. Their enzymatic activity against peptide substrates allows for their straightforward detection using low-cost tests. However, the complexity of the human proteome makes it challenging to develop sensitive and selective tests against a specific protease biomarker. Here, we report a diffe...

Over the last few years, spatial multi-omics platforms have emerged as a powerful tool for characterizing cancer biology in multiple dimensions. Notably, these systems typically rely on multiplex immunolabeling. Conventionally, multiplexing is accomplished through carefully selecting primary antibodies from different animal species, and in combinat...

Proteases are an important component of many biological processes in the human body, and as such makes them a well-known subject to explore when investigating a variety of disease states from cancer to cardiovascular disease. In all stages of cancer, including early development, proteases play critical roles in almost every aspect for processes suc...

Cellular circulating biomarkers from the primary tumor such as circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and circulating hybrid cells (CHCs) have been described to harbor tumor-like phenotype and genotype. CHCs are present in higher numbers than CTCs supporting their translational potential. Methods for isolation of CHCs do not exist and are restricted to low...

Metastatic progression defines the final stages of tumor evolution and underlies the majority of cancer-related deaths. The heterogeneity in disseminated tumor cell populations capable of seeding and growing in distant organ sites contributes to the development of treatment resistant disease. We recently reported the identification of a novel tumor...

Metastatic progression defines the final stages of tumor evolution and underlies the majority of cancer-related deaths. The heterogeneity in disseminated tumor cell populations capable of seeding and growing in distant organ sites contributes to the development of treatment resistant disease. We recently reported the identification of a novel tumor...

Understanding the biologic heterogeneity at the single cell level is required for advancing insights into the complexity of human physiology and diseases. While advances in technologic and analytic methods have afforded unprecedented glimpses of this heterogeneity, the information captured to date largely represents one-time “snap” shots of single...

Significance Current bone marrow (BM) or hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantations require recipient conditioning that is accompanied by significant adverse effects in patients. Here, we report engineering of bone tissues with a functional BM compartment in vivo by modular assembly of mineralized and nonmineralized macroporous structures. Thes...

To study the inhomogeneity within a cell population including exosomes properties such as exosome secretion rate of cells and surface markers carried by exosomes, we need to quantify and characterize those exosomes secreted by each individual cell. Here we develop a method to collect and analyze exosomes secreted by an array of single cells using a...

Optofluidic lab-on-a-chip (LOC) devices have drawn significant attention because of their special attraction to point-of-care applications. In this chapter, the advancement and key accomplishments of LOC devices that utilize optics as means to detect biomedical signals are discussed. The topics being covered include optofluidic waveguide designs, d...

Single cell analysis provides information of individual cells that is lost in measurements of large cell populations. There is a growing demand on the capability of characterizing the properties of individual single cells. Since transient and temporal studies of single cells require continuous monitoring of the cell behaviors, an effective single-c...

Although a flow cytometer, being one of the most popular research and clinical tools for biomedicine, can analyze cells based on the cell size, internal structures such as granularity, and molecular markers, it provides little information about the physical properties of cells such as cell stiffness and physical interactions between the cell membra...

Early signs of diseases can be revealed from cell detection in biofluids, such as detection of white blood cells (WBCs) in the peritoneal fluid for peritonitis. A lab-on-a-chip microfluidic device offers an attractive platform for such applications because of its small size, low cost, and ease of use provided the device can meet the performance req...

In this chapter, the detection principles and fabrication methods of optofluidic devices are discussed. Optofluidic devices enable synergistic operations of optics and microfluidics over a unified platform, resulting in precise and quantitative examination of biological samples such as cells, proteins, and nucleic acids. To address the emerging nee...

We present the development of three-dimensional (3D) cardiac microtissues within a microfluidic device with the ability to quantify real-time contractile stress measurements in situ. Using a 3D patterning technology that allows for the precise spatial distribution of cells within the device, we created an array of 3D cardiac microtissues from neona...

Nucleic acid detection and quantification technologies have made remarkable progress in recent years. Among existing platforms, hybridization-based assays have the advantages of being amplification free, low instrument cost, and high throughput, but are generally less sensitive compared to sequencing and PCR assays. To bridge this performance gap,...

The inner structure, especially the nuclear structure, of cells carries valuable information about disease and health conditions of a person. Here we demonstrate a label-free technique to enable direct observations and measurements of the size, shape and morphology of the cell nucleus. With a microfabricated lens and a commercial CMOS imager, we fo...

Genome sequencing of single cells has a variety of applications, including characterizing difficult-to-culture microorganisms and identifying somatic mutations in single cells from mammalian tissues. A major hurdle in this process is the bias in amplifying the genetic material from a single cell, a procedure known as polymerase cloning. Here we des...

A point-of-care and home-care lab-on-a-chip (LoC) system that integrates a microfluidic spiral device as a concentrator with an optical-coding device as a cell enumerator is demonstrated. The LoC system enumerates white blood cells from dialysis effluent of patients receiving peritoneal dialysis. The preliminary results show that the white blood ce...

Optofluidic lab-on-a-chip (LOC) devices have drawn significant attention because of their special attraction to point-of-care applications. In this chapter, the advancement and key accomplishments of LOC devices that utilize optics as means to detect biomedical signals are discussed. The topics being covered include optofluidic waveguide designs, d...