Achievement

Ziqiu (Tommy) Tong has been looking at the role of patchy surfaces that present binding ligands in cellular adhesion events under flow. He will present these results at the Inaugural ECI conference on NanoBio this summer. Tommy uses lithographic methods in conjunction with microfluidics tools to create patchy-surfaces with multiple functionalities with precise control over feature geometry and molecular species. He then exploits these surfaces to study interactions between cancer cells and selectin-functionalized surfaces in microfluidics devices. Patchy surfaces are of particular interest for cellular adhesion, as the residence time of a cell over a functionalized patch is defined by the ratio of the patch length in the direction of flow over the velocity. His work will lead to the development of diagnostic devices for cancer.