Abstract
Recent advancements in clinical medicine have underscored the critical challenges arising from individual variations in treatment responses, compelling the urgent need for personalized medicine. To address these challenges, systematic and quantitative single-cell analyses are indispensable to elucidate the factors contributing to cellular heterogeneity. The Hur research group harnesses the principles of fluid mechanics to devise innovative microfluidic systems that enable the observation and manipulation of single-cell behaviors, providing novel insights into these intricate clinical conundrums.
The Hur laboratory focuses on advancing the development of microfluidic systems through a comprehensive understanding of the interplay between physical properties and cellular phenotypes. Recognizing that biophysical properties reflect cellular functions and can also be leveraged to apply hydrodynamic forces for manipulating cell positions in flow, they have utilized inertial microfluidic principles to construct differential devices capable of precisely positioning cells within flow streams based on their intrinsic physical attributes, such as size and deformability. These devices uniquely facilitate the isolation, maintenance, and study of homogeneous cell populations under controlled flow conditions. A particularly noteworthy innovation is the integration of vortex-generating inertial microfluidics with electroporation, enabling enhanced molecular delivery into primary cells. This system empowers cells to be confined to pre-defined flow locations and released on demand, facilitating efficient and reproducible single-cell transformations. Such endeavors bridge the gap between fluid mechanics and biomedical applications, providing high-throughput, cost-effective tools for target cell detection, cell separation, and sequential multimolecular delivery. These tools have applications spanning the domains of oncology, immunology, gene therapy, and regenerative medicine.
About the Speaker
Soojung Claire Hur is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Department of Oncology at Johns Hopkins University. She received her B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from UCLA. After her doctoral training, she joined the Rowland Institute at Harvard University as one of two Rowland Fellows in September 2011 with five years of research funding. Before joining the Johns Hopkins University, she managed the clinical studies funded by the Vortex Biosciences, Inc. as an assistant researcher at UCLA Department of Bioengineering. She has won numerous awards and scholarships, including Edward K. Rice Outstanding Doctoral Student award, the 2018 inaugural Johnson and Johnson WiSTEM2D scholar award, 2019 Hartwell Individual Biomedical Award, 2019 Susan G. Komen Career Catalyst Award and 2023 JHU Catalyst Award. She co-authored 25 peer-reviewed journals, including three articles featured as journal covers, 40+ conference proceedings, 3 US and two international granted patents.
Host: Professor Liz Hsiao-Wecksler