Jiarong Hong
University of Minnesota, MN·Engineering
A conventional microscope sees only a thin slice of a sample at a time. That makes it hard to follow fast-moving cells through three dimensions or to screen many cells at once.
- Fields
Engineering
Biomedical Engineering
Microbiology & Immunology
- Topics
digital in-line holography
holographic imaging
3D particle tracking
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Feb 2027
What they work on
- Develop HoloCon, coupling digital in-line holography with machine learning for real-time 3D tracking of swimming bacteria to a spinning disk confocal microscope that images biofilm architecture at single-cell level.
- Test how resident biofilms repel invading free-swimming bacteria, combining HoloCon imaging with bacterial genetics, biochemistry and surface engineering to examine swimming behavior, biofilm topography and matrix interactions.
- Fabricate fast-responding sorting valves and miniaturized holographic imaging sensors for microfluidic chips using multi-material 3D printing, to reduce device cost and fabrication time.
- Use 3D holographic imaging to overcome the shallow depth of field of conventional microscopes, enabling higher-throughput, high-precision microfluidic sorting of rare cells such as circulating tumor cells.
More about the research
Holography solves part of this problem: it records light patterns from which a computer rebuilds a full 3D scene from a single image. This lab builds holographic imaging tools, paired with machine learning and 3D-printed hardware, for two uses: watching how bacteria behave, and sorting rare cells from blood.
Why it matters
Faster, cheaper sorting of rare cells from blood could speed up liquid biopsy, a blood test that looks for disease without surgery, supporting earlier cancer detection and personalized treatment as well as sickle cell diagnosis. The 3D printing approach could lower the cost of lab-on-a-chip and point-of-care devices. HoloCon could help researchers understand how bacterial populations compete, which is relevant to controlling harmful biofilms on medical and industrial surfaces.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Nathan Swami
University of Virginia, VA·Biomedical Engineering
Generate pancreatic cancer cells spanning a range of hybrid epithelial–mesenchymal states by co-culturing them with cancer-associated fibroblasts in a perfusable system under shear stress and hypoxia, validated by immunofluorescence.
Caitlin Howell
University of Maine, ME·Materials Science
Build functional microfluidic prototypes using industrial-scale, roll-to-roll cast channel systems produced with Maine-based paper manufacturing infrastructure.
Martha Grady
University of Kentucky, KY·Biomedical Engineering·Early-career
Identify the dominant parameters that promote strong biofilm adhesion using laser spallation, and establish an Adhesion Index comparing mammalian cell adhesion to biofilm adhesion on implant surfaces.
The school
University of Minnesota: 88 labs on PI Pages, $1.4B a year on research, 722 research doctorates a year.
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