EE Colloquium: Point-of-Care and AgBio Diagnostics by Connected Smartphone Sensors

Abstract: Recent advances in optical sensing and molecular technologies have considerably broadened the scope of point-of-care (POC) diagnostics from simple dipstick tests to more integrated devices that can perform sample preparation, assay reaction, signal quantification and data processing, all in one platform. Smartphone-based imaging and sensing devices are among the next-generation biosensors that have shown great potential to transform the diagnostic field. The constant improvement of the performance of the image sensors and reduction of the price of the smartphone devices have placed a transformative microscopy and sensing tool in billions of users’ hands. Using these miniaturized devices, personal and plant health can be accurately monitored outside the clinics or laboratories, which is especially useful to improve access to diagnostic tools in resource-limited settings. This talk will highlight our recent effort in creating field-portable sensor platforms based on smartphones, and their applications ranging from POC diagnostics of human diseases to in-field detection of plant pathogens.

Biography: Dr. Qingshan Wei is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at NC State. He is also a member of the Emerging Plant Disease and Global Food Security Cluster. Dr. Wei received his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry (Analytical) from Purdue University in 2012, and completed postdoctoral training in the Departments of Electrical Engineering and Bioengineering at UCLA between 2012-2016. He then joined NCSU faculty in 2017. His current research focuses on developing novel diagnostic assays and sensors for point-of-care detection of human and plant diseases. Research areas include nucleic acid testing, CRISPR diagnostics, lab-on-a-chip devices, microfluidics, smartphone sensors, and nanomaterials. He is the recipient of the NSF CAREER Award (2020), Nano Research Young Innovator Award in NanoBiotech (2018), the Honorable Mention of the Chancellor’s Award for Postdoctoral Research at UCLA (2014), and the Bilsland Dissertation Fellowship at Purdue University (2011).