The Integrated BioMicroFluidics (iBMF) Lab, directed by Associate Professor Xiaolong Luo in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering at the Catholic University of America, aims to develop novel tools that bridges between engineering and biology.

We handle fluids in microscale (microfluidics), develop bio-microsystems with novel fabrication strategy (biofabrication), and diagnoses biological events with microscopic and biosensing techniques. We work with biopolymers including polysaccharides extracted from crab/insect shells (chitosan) and sea weed algae (alginate) as well as proteins (collagen) to construct 3D hydrogels, fabricate freestanding membranes, establish bilayer lipid membranes, assemble biomolecules, immobilize living cells, and entrap optically-active nanoparticles in microfluidic networks.

We design and fabricate integrated bio-microsystems to understand fundamental science and address practical challenges. Novel bio-microsystems developed in our lab find important applications in protein/metabolic engineering, cell-cell communications, membrane biology and yeast aging studies in synthetic ecosystems, realizing laboratory functions in microsystems (Lab-on-a-Chip) to expedite novel drug discovery and improve human health.

iBMF News

  • The latest news are available here.

  • 2024

    • 05/11/2024: Congratulations to  Maria E.for graduating with the University's highest honor, the  President's Award, and the Benjamin T. Rome Academic Achievement Award, as well as the Commencement Speaker for the School of Engineering! 
    • 04/17/2024: Congratulations to  Maria E. and  Emma for winning the  Best Poster Presentation (Undergraduate) of their research work in iBMF at the University Research Day 2024! Also, congratulations to  Daniel,  Louis, and  Maria H.  for their team project, which won the  Best Oral Presentation (Undergraduate) ! 
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    • 04/11/2024: Biomedical Engineering undergraduate student  Maria Hargrave  joins iBMF.  Welcome, Maria H.!
    • 02/22/2024: Our collaborative paper titled " Recombinant human keratinocyte growth factor ameliorates cancer treatment-induced oral mucositis on a chip " is publishedon  Advanced Healthcare Materials ! Congratulations to  Khanh and the collaboration team for this high-quality work!
    • 01/19/2024:  The iBMF lab welcomes  Louis Nwuha  and  Daniel Zhao , who are in Biomedical Engineering,to conduct research work for their independent studies.  
    • 01/02/2024: The iBMF lab welcomes new Ph.D.student  Long Duong  in Mechanical Engineering to the lab.  Welcome, Long!

     

    2023

    • 9/15/2023:  Congratulations to  Khanh Ly for successfully defending her dissertation titled "A microfluidic tissue culture model of oral mucositis associated with cancer treatment" under the co-supervision of Dr. Raub and Dr. Luo! Well done, Dr. Ly! Having you in the lab for the last five years was a great pleasure. Thank you for helping manage the iBMF lab. Best wishes for your new journey at NIH!  
    • 5/30/2023: Biomedical Engineering undergraduate student  Emma Wallace  joins the iBMF lab.  Welcome, Emma!
    • 2/28/2023: Congratulations to Maria, Dat, and Dr. Luo for being accepted for oral presentations at the University  Research Day 2023  on April 18, 2023.  
    • 2/23/2023:  A new paper titled "Programmable physical properties of freestanding chitosan membranes electrofabricated in microfluidics" has been accepted for publication in  Membranes ! Congratulations to  Khanh and all the co-authors!
    • 2/21/2023:  Congratulations to  Le Hoang Phu Phamon successfully defending his dissertation "In vitro Biofilm Model in Calcium Alginate to Probe Antibiotic Susceptibility Assay and Microfluidics Approach to Study Mutual Microbial Interactions"! Well done, Dr. Pham! It was a great pleasure having you in the lab for two years as a master's student and another four years as a Ph.D. student. Best wishes for your new job in CA!  
    • 1/9/2023:  The iBMF lab welcomes undergraduate student  Claire Wang  in Biochemistry from UMD to the lab.  Welcome, Claire!

     

    2022

    • 12/28/2022: Our collaborative paper with the FDA titled " Dissolvable Alginate Hydrogel-based Biofilm Microreactors for Antibiotic Susceptibility Assays" is accepted for publication on  Biofilm!  Big congratulations to  Phu and all collaborators at CUA and FDA!
    • 10/06/2022: Our paper, " Probing mutual interactions between Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans in a biofabricated membrane-based microfluidic platform ", is accepted for publication on  Lab on a Chip ! Congratulations to  Phu and the coworkers in the Choy and Luo labs!
    • 09/20/2022: Our collaborative paper titled " Oral mucositis on a chip: modeling induction by chemo- and radiation treatments and recovery " is accepted for publication on  Biofabrication ! Congratulations to  Khanh, Dr. Raub, and Dr. Luo for this high-quality work!
    • 06/30/2022: Our chemotaxis paper titled " Bacterial chemotaxis in static gradients quantified in a biopolymer membrane-integrated microfluidic platform " is accepted for publication on  Lab on a Chip !  Congratulations to the whole collaboration team between CUA and Univ. of Maryland!  
    • 06/20/2022: Two high school students,  Pricilla Ye and  Jabez Luo from Reservoir High School, join the lab as summer interns.  Welcome!
    • 05/23/2022: The iBMF lab welcomes undergraduate student  Maria Erquiaga  in Mechanical Engineering to the lab.  Welcome, Maria!
    • 04/29/2022: Congratulations to  Khanh for giving an oral presentation at the  Biomaterials 2022 Annual Meeting and Exposition at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront !
    • 01/25/2022: Congratulationsto  Khanh on being recognized as a "Cosmas Scholar" and receiving a $4,465 grant  from the  Cosmos Club Foundation !
    • 01/07/2022: Our collaborative paper, " A dual-modality digital holographic and polarization microscope to quantify phase and birefringence signals in biospecimens with complex microstructure ," has been accepted for publication at  Biomedical Optics Express.  Congratulations to Van, Thuc,  Khanh, and the team! 

     

    2021

    04/17/2024: Congratulations to iBMF members  Maria E.,  Emma,  Louis, and  Daniel for presenting at the Catholic University  Research Day 2024 ! 
    • 12/24/2021: Congratulations to  Khanh as one of the recipients of the Grants in Aid of Research   from  Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society!
    • 11/19/2021: Congratulations to Dr.  Piao Huon successfully defending her dissertation, "Tailoring Chitosan Membrane-based Microfluidic Platforms to Tackle Biological Challenges"! Well done, Dr. Hu, and best wishes for your new job! Having you in the lab for five years was a great pleasure. Please visit back. 
    • 10/15/2021:  Congratulations to  Phu and  Khanh forgiving poster presentations at the MicroTAS 2021!
    • 08/26/2021: Phuis one of the recipients of the  Edward L., Jr. & Ruth S. Hennessy Distinguished Scholarship Award in the School of Engineering.  Congratulations!
    • 08/02/2021:  Luo welcomes his youngest daughter to the family and will take a sabbatical and parental leave in the 2021-2022 academic year. 
    • 07/20/2021: Joint lab picnic at  Raub's backyardwith students and families of Choy, Luo, and Raub groups!
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    • 06/14/2021:  The iBMF lab welcomes high school student  Abigail Vanasse  from  Elizabeth Seton High School  to work in the lab as a summer intern.
    • 06/01/2021: The iBMF lab welcomes undergraduate student  Hanh Hoang  in Biomedical Engineering to the lab as a summer intern. 
    • 05/07/2021: Our paper titled  "Modulating the properties of flow-assembled chitosan membranes in microfluidics with glutaraldehyde crosslinking" features in a  Journal of Materials Chemistry B  and  Biomaterials Science  Editor’s Choice Collection on microfluidics. Read the collection  here . 
    • 04/22/2021:Our paper titled " Tuning the porosity of biofabricated chitosan membranes in microfluidics with co-assembled nanoparticles as templates"   has been selected for inclusion in the 2021 Popular Advances collection (including articles that have been very well received by the community),  Materials Advances Popular Advances Collection 2021.  

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    • 04/22/2021: Our recent review paper titled "Flow-assembled chitosan membranes in microfluidics: recent advances and applications" is featured as a  back cover  of  Journal of Materials Chemistry B. 
    • 04/15/2021:iBMF Lab members  Phu  and  Piao  gave oral presentations at the University Research Day 2021.  Congratulations for the well-done presentations!

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    • 02/18/2021: The first review paper from the group titled " Flow-assembled Chitosan Membranes in Microfluidics: Recent Advances and Applications " is accepted for publication at  Journal of Materials Chemistry B. Congratulations to the  Khanh, Piao and Phu!
    • 01/04/2021: Our new paper titled "An Oral-on-a-chip Sensitively Evaluates Cell Responses to Dental Monomers" is accepted for publication at  Biomedical Microdevices. Congratulations to  Khanh, Ali and the team! 

     

    2020

    • 10/29/2020:  Luois one of the  Co-Chairs for the University Research Day 2021, which is being planned as both a virtual and an in-person event.  
    • 10/09/2020: Congratulations to  Khanh for giving a poster presentation at the MicroTAS 2020!
    • 09/04/2020: Our new paper titled "Interfacial Electrofabrication of Freestanding Biopolymer Membranes with Distal Electrodes " is accepted for publication at Congratulations to  Piao and the team! 
    • 08/26/2020: Both  Phu and  Khanh are the recipients of  the  Edward L., Jr. & Ruth S. Hennessy Distinguished Scholarship Awardin the School of Engineering.  Congratulations!
    • 07/22/2020:  Luo receives an  Internship Supplement grant ($47,075) to the NSF CAREER project, which will support  Piao to conduct an Internship at NIH.  
    • 04/29/2020:  Khanh's recent paper is featured as a  back cover  of  Materials Advances. Congratulations!
    • 04/27/2020: Our collaborating paper, "Microfluidic fabrication of stable collagen microgels with aligned microstructure using flow-driven co-deposition and ionic gelation", is accepted for publication in the  Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering. Congratulations, Santiago!
    • 04/21/2020:  Phu is the  Finalist at the online University Research Day 2020!  Congratulations to Phu for this award recognition! 
    • 04/21/2020:  Luois one of the  Co-Chairs of the online Research Day 2020.  Welcome to the first ever online Research Day, with a live award ceremony at 4 pm:  https://research-day.catholic.edu/ .  Selective research projects from the iBMF Lab presented by  Phu  and  Khanh  are available online for review.  Check the numbers about Research Day 2020 on this  Spotlight Story : More than 3,000 visitors came to the website to participate in the event, and 212 of them posted follow-up questions or comments to the presenters.  Also, check the good summary in  THE TOWER . 
    • 04/09/2020:  Khanh is the recipient of a $3000 grant from the  GSA Dissertation Grant award! Big congratulations, Khanh!
    • 03/05/2020:  Khanh's paper titled "Tuning the porosity of biofabricated chitosan membranes in microfluidics with co-assembled nanoparticles as template" is accepted for publication at  Materials Advances.  Congratulations to Khanh!
    • 02/17/2020: Our collaborating paper, "Microstructural densification and alignment by aspiration-ejection influence cancer cell interactions with three-dimensional collagen networks", is accepted for publication at  Biotechnology and Bioengineering.  Congratulations to Ruby, Manal & Chris! 
    • 02/14/2020: Our new paper titled "Modulating the properties of flow-assembled chitosan membranes in microfluidics with glutaraldehyde crosslinking" is accepted for publication in the  Journal of Materials Chemistry B. Congratulations to  Piao! 
    • 01/09/2020: Congratulations to  Khanh Ly for delivering a high-quality master's thesis! Hope you the best for beginning your Ph.D. study!
    • 01/08/2020: Our new paper, "Chemotropism among populations of yeast cells with spatiotemporal resolution in a biofabricated microfluidic platform", is accepted for publication at  Biomicrofluidics. Congrats to the students  Thanh and Sameer and the PIs for the collaborative work! 

     

    2019

    • 10/01/2019: Master student  Mireille Muhoza (MSE) joins the iBMF lab. Welcome, Mireille!
    • 09/05/2019: Seyed Ali is to graduate with a master's degree.  Hope you are all well, Ali! 
    • 08/26/2019:  Piao is the recipient of the  Edward L., Jr. & Ruth S. Hennessy Distinguished Scholarship Awardin the School of Engineering.  Congratulations, Piao!
    • 08/24/2019: Fourth joint lab picnic at Hammond Park with families and some members from Choy, Luo, Nehmetallah, and Raub groups!
    • 07/23/2019: Dr. Luo is appointed as one of the two  Co-chairsof the University Research Day Committee for 2020.  See you at URD 2020 ( https://research-day.catholic.edu/ ) on April 21, Tuesday, 2020!  
    • 06/17/2019: The iBMF lab welcomes high school student  Taisia Mertz from Rockville High School to work in the lab as a summer intern. Welcome!
    • 06/12/2019: Dr. Luo is appointed with  continuous tenure at CUA!  
    • 05/18/2019: Congratulations to all the graduating undergraduates who have worked in iBMF: Anne Perry, Jesse Williams, Saba Owens, and Abdulaziz Almubaddel!  Best for you all in a new life chapter!
    • 05/07/2019: Dr. Luo gave a presentation at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD. 
    • 04/09/2019: Phu is the  Finalist at the 2019 University Research Day (URD)!  Congratulations, Phu! 
    • 04/09/2019: Piao, Ali, and Phu from the iBMF lab presented three oral presentations at the 2019 University Research Day (URD).  
    • 04/15/2019: The iBMF lab has moved!
    • 01/02/2019: The iBMF lab welcomes our alumni Le Hoang Phu Pham back to pursue his Ph.D. degree!  Nice to have you back, Phu!
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