Research
Uropathogen Detection
Urine Biomarker Detection
Microfluidics (Lab-on-a-chip) for urine
Minimally invasive urologic surgery
Clinical research
Uropathogen Detection
Rapid detection of uropathogens and determination of antibiotic susceptibility.
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Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are the most common bacterial infection of any organ system and accounts for significant healthcare expenditure and patient morbidity. Standard diagnosis of UTI depends on culture in a clinical microbiology laboratory, which typically has a 2-day time lag between specimen collection and pathogen identification. In the absence of expeditious microbiological diagnosis, clinicians frequently initiate empiric antimicrobial treatments without supportive clinical laboratory data. Such injudicious practice has led to emergence of resistant organisms and accelerating the need for ever more potent antibiotics. Emergence of antibiotic resistant pathogens is a global healthcare crisis.
Several hurdles remain to prevent the near-term application of an electrochemical sensor in a point-of-care setting. At present, the electrochemical assay must be performed by skilled researchers and requires multiple sample processing steps. Second, rapid determination of antibiotic susceptibility need to be achieved for this technology to be of practical use to clinicians. Third, clinical validation of the electrochemical sensor needs to be demonstrated in a point-of-care setting.
Urine Biomarker Detection
Rapid detection of urinary biomarkers for bladder cancer
We wish to pioneer an ultrasensitive, noninvasive diagnostic test for bladder cancer. We will develop micro-scale sensor arrays that can perform multiplexed detection of bladder cancer biomarkers below the picogram (pg)/ml range.
Bladder cancer is common, with more than 60,000 new cases per year in the United States and a 50-90% chance of recurrence. With 500,000 patients, bladder cancer is more prevalent than lung cancer in the United States. The need for lifelong surveillance makes bladder cancer the most expensive cancer to treat from the time of diagnosis to death. The current gold standard for the diagnosis of bladder cancer is cystoscopy which involves the insertion of an endoscope through the urethra into the bladder either in the office or in the operating room under anesthesia. Cystoscopy is operator dependent and small flat tumors may be missed. Urine cytology is a frequent adjunct to cystoscopy in which microscopic examination of exfoliated bladder epithelial cells is performed. While less invasive, urine cytology has overall poor sensitivity (<20%), particularly in well-differentiated tumors.
There is a significant need for more sensitive and specific, less invasive, and cost effective diagnostic tests for bladder cancer.
Microfluidics lab-on-a-chip
