Acoustic Bubbles: A Versatile Tool for Various Biomedical Applications

A typical biomedical analysis process usually requires (1) multiple steps such as sample collection, sample preparation and analytes detection; (2) sophisticated equipment; and (3) professional personnel. All these weaknesses have become a burden to ever-increasing demands of rapid and reliable healthcare for individuals and society. In recent years, microfluidics has shown great potential to become a go-to solution, by which most of these steps can be realized in a single miniaturized device. Especially, by combining acoustics and microfluidics, we can achieve contactless operation with high controllability and high biocompatibility, which is well poised for solving the challenges in various biomedical research related to healthcare. In this talk, I will present acoustic bubbles (gas/air interfaces) in microfluidic systems for various biomedical applications to address the challenges in fluid transportation, cell manipulation and disease treatment. The versatile functions of acoustic bubbles will be discussed with experimental examples.

Yuan Gao is an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Memphis (UofM). She received her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). Her research goal is to develop acoustic micro/nanofluidic systems that address problems in biomedical research related to human health. Her research interests focus on the control of acoustic bubbles and the development of microdevices for disease diagnosis, drug delivery, and health monitoring. Her research work has been published in Lab on a Chip, Sensors & Actuators: B. Chemical, and ACS Applied Electronic Materials.