Zhenyu Li

Person image.

Zhenyu Li

Associate Professor


Contact:

SEH 5590 | Office Hours: R: 1:00 – 3:00 pm

Dr. Zhenyu Li’s current research focuses on the development of novel biosensors and medical devices using micro and nanotechnology, namely microfluidics, MEMS, nanophotonics and flexible electronics. 

His current projects include a handheld automated blood analyzer using microliter blood samples, a wearable ECG sensor on a finger ring, and soft robotics with embedded medical sensors and actuators for automated healthcare delivery.


  • B.S., Tsinghua University, 1999
  • M.S., University of California, 2000
  • Ph.D., California Institute of Technology, 2007

A. Guan, P Hamilton, Y Wang, M Gorbet, Z.Y. Li, K.S. Phillips, "Medical Devices on Chips", Nature Biomedical Engineering, 1, 0045 2017.

A. Guan, Y. Wang, K.S. Phillips, Z.Y. Li, "A contact-lens-on-a-chip companion diagnostic tool for personalized medicine", Lab Chip, 16(7), 1152-1156, 2016.

B.C. Li, L. Li, A. Guan, Q. Dong, K.C. Ruan, R.G. Hu, and Z.Y. Li, "A Smartphone Controlled Handheld Microfluidic Liquid Handling System", Lab Chip, 14 (20), 4085 - 4092, Aug. 2014.

B. Zhang, Q. Dong, C.E. Korman, Z.Y. Li* and M.E. Zaghloul*, “Flexible packaging of solid-state integrated circuit chips with elastomeric microfluidics”, Sci Rep. 3: 1098, 2013.

Guan, A. Shenoy, R. Smith and Z.Y. Li, "Streamline based design guideline for deterministic microfluidic hydrodynamic single cell traps", Biomicrofluidics 9, 024103, Mar. 2015.

Y. Wang, A. Guan, I. Isayeva, K. Vorvolakos, S. Das, Z.Y. Li, K.S. Phillips, "Interactions of Staphylococcus aureus with ultrasoft hydrogel biomaterials", Biomaterials, 95, 74-85, 2016.

Z.Y. Li, "Optofluidic Resonators and Sensors", Encyclopedia of Nanotechnology, 1-6, 2016.

Guan, Z.Y. Li, K.S. Phillips, "The effects of non-ionic polymeric surfactants on the cleaning of biofouled hydrogel materials", Biofouling, 2015.

J. Frey*, A. Guan*, Z.Y. Li, S. Turtil, K.S. Phillips, Hemoglobin assay for validation and quality control of medical device reprocessing.  Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, Volume 407, Issue 22, pp 6885-6889, September 2015. *Equal Contributions.

J. Silver, Z.Y. Li, K. Neuman, "Tethered-Bead Immune Sandwich Assay", Biosensors and Bioelectronics, Volume 63, Pages 117–123, 15 January 2015.

Guan, Z.Y. Li, K.S. Phillips, "The Effect of Fluorescent Labels on Protein Sorption in Polymer Hydrogels", Journal of Fluorescence, Volume 24, Issue 6, pp 1639-1650, DOI: 10.1007/s10895-014-1450-8, November 2014.

N. Kotagiri, Z.Y. Li, X. Xu, S. Mondal, A. Nehorai, and S. Achilefu, "Antibody Quantum Dot Conjugates Developed via Copper-free Click Chemistry for Rapid Analysis of Biological Samples Using a Microfluidic Microsphere Array System," Bioconjugate Chemistry, 25 (7), pp 1272–1281, June 2014.

X. Xu, Z.Y. Li, P. Sarder, N. Kotagiri, and A. Nehorai, "Simultaneous detection of multiple targets using optimized microfluidic microsphere-trap arrays," J. Micro/Nanolith. MEMS MOEMS. 13(1), 013017, March 2014.

X. Xu, Z.Y. Li, and A. Nehorai, "Finite element simulations of hydrodynamic trapping in microfluidic particle-trap array systems," Biomicrofluidics, vol. 7, 014305, Sep. 2013.

B Zhang, Z.Y. Li, CE Korman, ME Zaghloul, "Rectangular CMOS differential MAGFET biosensor for magnetic particle detection", IEEE Transactions on Magnetics,  49 (7), 4052-4055, 2013.

X.X. Xu*, P. Sarder*, Z.Y. Li*, and A. Nehorai, "Optimization of microfluidic microsphere-trap arrays", Biomicrofluidics 7, 014112, 2013.

*Equal Contributions 

  • Program Committee Member of SPIE Ultrafast Optical Imaging and Spectroscopy, 2013 - now
  • Program Committee Member of the 3rd European Optical Society Conference on Optofluidics, 2015
  • FDA/CDRH Technical Review Committee (TRC) Member, 2012
  • Session Chair of SPIE Ultrafast Optical Imaging and Spectroscopy Conferences 2014, 2015
  • Session Co-Chair of IEEE Sensors Conference, Taipei, 2012
  • Reviewer of grants submitted to NSF and NIH.
  • Reviewer of conference papers for the Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.

 

Reviewer of manuscripts submitted to following journals

  • Scientific Reports
  • Lab on a Chip
  • Annals of Biomedical Engineering
  • Biomicrofluidics
  • Applied Physics Letters
  • Optics Letters
  • Optics Express
  • IEEE Journal of Sel. Top. Quant. Electron.
  • IEEE Photonics Technology Letters
  • Applied Optics
  • Optics Communications
  • Journal of Applied Physics
  • Sensors and Actuators A
  • AIP Advances

 

Memberships

  • Member of BMES
  • Member of IEEE, IEEE LEOS, IEEE EMBS
  • Member of OSA
  • Member of SPIE

 

Extramural Grant Support

  • 2015 - 2019 NIH-NIBIB 1U01EB021986-01, "Ambulatory Sensor Arrays for Real-Life Monitoring of Pediatric Patients with Asthma", Role: PI
  • 2018 - 2019 NSF 1743662, "FDA Scholar-in-residence: On-chip optical biosensing methods for quantitative measurement of antibiotic resistance", Role: PI
  • 2018 - 2019 NSF 1837892, "I-Corps: A Cloud-based Wearable ECG Sensor on a Finger Ring", Role: PI
  • 2018 - 2019 Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, "Microfluidic Devices for Evaluating Tear Deposition on Contact Lenses", Role: PI
  • 2018 - 2022 NSF 1830941, "EFRI CEE: Human cardiac optoepigenetics with HDAC inhibitors – linking chromatin dynamics to electromechanical phenotype", Role: Co-PI
  • Z.Y. Li, D. Psaltis, A. Scherer, Z.Y. Zhang, "Mechanically Tunable Elastomeric Optofluidic Distributed Feedback Dye Laser", US Patent 7,817,698
  • Z.Y. Li. M. Zaghloul, B.W. Zhang, C. Korman,  Flexible IC/Microfluidic Integration and Packaging  US Patent 9,116,145
  • Z.Y. Li, A. Scherer, "Handheld Low Pressure Mechanical Cell Lysis Device with Single Cell Resolution", US Patent Application 20120091235
  • B.C. Li, Z.Y. Li, "Handheld Microfluidic Liquid Handling System", PCT Patent Application
  • J. Silver, Z.Y. Li, K. Neuman, "Tethered-Bead Immune Sandwich Assay", PCT Patent Application (NIH and GW joint application)
  • Z.Y.Li, Q. Dong, M.E. Zaghloul, "Wearable ECG Sensor on a Finger Ring", PCT Patent Application