Analytical chemistry

From adapting passive gas sampling in polluted soils to speeding up extractions of chemicals from contaminated rock, Dr. Tadeusz Górecki has made a career of analyzing some of nature’s most complex samples. He is best known though for his patented improvements to two-dimensional chromatography, a much more sensitive, two-step version of gas chromatography that allows researchers to fully resolve analyte peaks in messy environmental and biological samples.

Dr. Vassili Karanassios' interests are in the area of micro- and nano-analysis (e.g., metrology), in micro- and nano-technology (e.g., micro- and nano-fluidics, nano-materials), and in development of miniaturized instruments that can be used on-site (i.e., in the field). Such instruments are typically fabricated on-chips so that they can fit in the palm of a hand or in a shirt pocket, thus allowing users to take "the lab to the sample". The sample may be a "patient" (for early diagnosis of disease) and the field may be a health clinic or the environment (e.g., the air we breathe or the water we drink). In addition, such instruments are being developed to have wireless-capabilities so that they can be included in the Internet of Things (IoT) and to have some smarts (via Artificial Intelligence, primarily using Artificial Neural Networks and Deep Learning approaches).

Dr. Jung-Ho Yu is innovating multiplexed bioanalytical platforms to measure numerous molecular signals in complex live biological systems, with the goal of deepening our understanding of disease and enabling personalized health solutions. Currently, his lab is developing a nanotechnology-based solution to encode multiple biomolecules with high-resolution vibrational spectra to capture their dynamic changes in live cells, tissues, and potentially humans.