Please give a lot of attention and participation from the members of the Mechanical Engineering department.

▣ Title: Microfluidic Neutrophil Impedance Profiling in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

▣ Speaker: Prof. Han Wei Hou

▣ Affiliation: Nanyang Technological University

▣ Date: 2023. 11. 20.(Mon) 16:30

▣ Venue: 제4공학관 D503호

▣ Host: 정효일 교수

▣ Abstract

The prevalence of cardiometabolic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and obesity is increasing globally. Neutrophils, the key effector cells of innate immunity, play a significant role in the systemic persistent inflammation seen in cardiometabolic diseases. Besides differential leukocyte count, abnormal neutrophil biophysical phenotype or dysfunction can be utilized as surrogate biomarkers for early risk prediction and preventive intervention in atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases. Label-free microfluidics technologies leverage on intrinsic cell properties for cell separation and detection without affinity-based antibody binding, making them ideal for gentle isolation of neutrophils in their native state. In this talk, I will first introduce the development of an integrated "sample-in, answer-out" inertial-impedance cytometry for rapid neutrophil isolation and impedance-based profiling of neutrophil activation within 5 minutes. Additionally, I will highlight our recent research efforts in developing an electrical-based biophysical cytometry for single neutrophil electro-mechano-phenotyping in type 2 diabetes mellitus. In summary, this multidisciplinary research has the potential to facilitate rapid and quantitative blood analysis of low-grade inflammation, advancing progress toward immune risk stratification in cardiometabolic diseases.