University of Waterloo
200 University Ave W, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1
Phone: (519) 888-4567
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Dongqing Li is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo.
His research is in the area of electrokinetic-based microfluidics and lab-on-a-chip technology. Lab-On-Chip (LOC) devices are micro scale laboratories on a microchip that can perform clinical diagnoses, scan DNA, run electrophoretic separations, act as micro reactors, detect cancer cells and identify bacteria and viruses.
The objective of Professor Li’s current research program is to develop quantitative microfluidic technologies that enable the chip-scale design and operation control of pumping, metering, switching, sample injection/dispensing, mixing, reacting, and separating processes. His research includes developing Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) chips for detecting bacteria and viruses, DNA sensing chips, real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) chip systems, dielectrophoresis cell detection chip, and cellular lab on a chip.
The typical lab on a chip is a thin glass or plastic plate with a network of microchannels etched into its surface. These microchannels are about 10 microns deep, 50 microns wide, and several centimeters in length.
A liquid sample (as little as 100 picoliters) is injected at one end of a microchannel. Electric fields propel the sample along the channels, past reservoir chambers that squirt measured amounts of reactants into the sample as it moves over detectors that scrutinize the progress of the reaction. On such a chip, hundreds of different reactions and analyses can be performed at the same time through hundreds of parallel microchannels. The advantage of labs on a chip are that they include a very small sample amount, very short reaction and analysis time and high throughput, and portability. These are the medical and technical drivers of next generation - handheld, portable, biodiagnotic devices.
University of Waterloo
200 University Ave W, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1
Phone: (519) 888-4567
Staff and Faculty Directory
Contact the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering
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