Micro/nanofluidics refers to a set of technologies that can precisely control ions, fluids or particles confined in micron and nanometer scale channels. Due to similar length sales and fluid environments, BioMEMS or Lab-on-a-chip devices based on micro/nanofluidics technology are ideally suited to manipulate and analyze biological entities for various bioanalytical applications. This intrinsically multidisciplinary research field lies at the interface between engineering, micro/nanofabrication, material, chemistry and biology, which has great potential to revolutionize the study of complex biological systems and also leads to the development of novel biomedical devices.

A primary objective of our research is to explore unique physical phenomena associated with fluid flows at small length scales and their interactions with structures, electrics, acoustics, optics and magnetics. Our long-term research goal aims to apply the understandings and discoveries to develop novel micro/nanofluidics technologies and BioMEMS or Lab-on-a-chip devices with applications in biomedical analysis, healthcare, bioenergy and environmental monitoring. Ai’s research group is also striving to translate their innovative micro/nanofluidics technologies to commercial market through collaborations with industry.

We acknowledge support from the following research funding sponsors: