1. Title : Microfluidics meets microbiology

2. Speaker : Douglas B. Weibel Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison

3. Time : 30th May, Wed 16:30-17:30 p.m.

4. Venue : Rm.201, Bldg.301

5. Abstract : Microtechnology is beginning to have a significant impact on fundamental studies in microbiology and applications in pathogen diagnosis, detection, and treatment. An important characteristic of microtechnology that enables these studies is the ability to create structures that have length scales that match the dimensions of individual cells, collections of cells, and multicellular communities. These capabilities make it possible to engineer and control the microenvironment around microorganisms: that is, the region directly around cells that is influenced by molecular contact, diffusion, and mass transfer.

In this talk I describe two recent projects in our lab at the interface of microtechnology and microbiology, which both center upon microfluidics. The first project uses microfluidics to rapidly screen and identify mutants that are resistant to antibiotics and to determine the protein target to which the small molecule binds. The second project centers upon the development of point-of-care diagnostics (POC) for bacterial detection and treatment. We have solved a long-standing problem of how to simply meter a sample into many dead-end channels in a microfluidic system without the use of pumps and valves. Using this technique, we have developed a new class of inexpensive, portable POC devices for the detection and treatment of pathogenic bacteria.

The two projects are designed to demonstrate the many different opportunities open to engineers looking for interesting, important biological questions to study. Microbiology is filled with interesting, unanswered questions and is awaiting the techniques and capabilities of engineering to deliver elegant solutions to fundamental and applied areas within this field.

6. Bio : Douglas B. Weibel received a B.S. degree in Chemistry from the University of Utah in 1996 and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Cornell University (with Jerrold Meinwald) in 2002. From 1996-1997 he was Fulbright Fellow in Japan (with Yoshinori Yamamoto). He was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Chemistry at Harvard University (with George M. Whitesides) from 2002-2006. He joined the Department of Biochemistry at University of Wisconsin-Madison as an Assistant Professor in 2006 and also became an Assistant Professors in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Wisconsion-Madison in 2008.

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