Juan Lasheras Memorial Seminar - Microfluidic Tools for Assessing Immune Function

Joel Voldman

Clarence J. LeBel Professor.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Seminar Information

Seminar Series
Biomechanics & Medical Devices

Seminar Date - Time
May 6, 2022, 9:00 am
-
10:00

Seminar Location
Structural and Materials Engineering (SME), room 248 (second floor)


Abstract

Microsystems have the potential to impact biology & medicine by providing new ways to manipulate, separate, and otherwise interrogate cells and the molecules they secrete.  The immune system is of particular interest because of its central role in the pathophysiology of many common disorders.  As a consequence, many microfluidic devices have been developed to study both the basic biology of immune cells as well as to assay them for clinical use. Our lab has developed technologies on both ends of the spectrum, from cell pairing devices able to study information flow and decision-making in immune cells to electrical sorting devices for assaying immune cell function in response to disease, to electrochemical microfluidic systems for assaying protein abundance in complex fluids. In this talk I will highlight some of our recent developments in this area to showcase the opportunities – and enduring challenges – of these microfluidic tools.

Speaker Bio

Joel Voldman is Clarence J. Lebel Professor and EE Faculty Head in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at MIT. He received his B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1995.  He received his M.S and Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, in 1997 and 2001, developing bioMEMS for single-cell analysis. Following this, he was a postdoctoral associate at Harvard Medical School.  In 2002 he returned to MIT as an Assistant Professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department at MIT. Prof. Voldman’s research focuses on developing microfluidic technology for biology and medicine, with an emphasis on cell sorting, manipulation, and culture. In 2006 he was promoted to Associate Professor, and in 2013 promoted to Professor in the department. In 2018 he became Associate Head of the Department and in 2020 became Faculty Head for Electrical Engineering and was named to the Clarence J. Lebel chair. Among several awards, he has received an NSF CAREER award, an ACS Young Innovator Award, a Bose Research award, Jamieson Teaching Award, Smullin Teaching Award, Quick Faculty Research Innovation Fellowship, AIMBE Fellow, IEEE Fellow, RSC Fellow, and awards for posters and presentations at international conferences.

 

Remembering Prof. Lasheras: Juan C. Lasheras, University of California San Diego distinguished professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Bioengineering, passed away on February 1, 2021, at 69 years of age. He was a brilliant scholar, a visionary leader, a supportive mentor, a dedicated educator, and a larger-than-life presence in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) and in the Jacobs School of Engineering. Lasheras was instrumental in founding the Aerospace Engineering program at UC San Diego and informing the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE). In 1999, when the Department of Applied Mechanics and Engineering Sciences (AMES) split into the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) and the Department of Structural Engineering, Juan served as the first Chairman of the new MAE department. He was also the founding director of the Center for Medical Devices at UC San Diego and served as the Interim Dean of Engineering in 2012. Since 2007, he held the Stanford S. and Beverly P. Penner Endowed Chair in Engineering or Applied Sciences. Beyond UC San Diego, Lasheras received multiple distinctions and awards. He was a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Inventors, and the Spanish Royal Academy of Engineering. He held honorary doctoral degrees from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and from Universidad Carlos III. Beyond all of his professional accomplishments and accolades, Lasheras was a caring and generous person. He had a profound impact on many students, staff, and faculty at UC San Diego. This legacy is evident in countless anecdotes they shared including certain impactful career advice, his role in bringing them to UC San Diego, and the help that he graciously offered to them or to their relatives regarding personal challenges.  

Lasheras leaves an extraordinary academic legacy, not only in his scientific contributions but also in the innumerable graduate and undergraduate students, postdocs, and colleagues that have benefitted from his teaching and mentorship.