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The Integrated BioMicroFluidics (iBMF) Lab, directed by Associate Professor Xiaolong Luo in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering at the Catholic University of America (CUA), aims to develop novel microscale platforms that bridge engineering and biology. We handle fluids on a microscale (microfluidics), develop bio-microsystems with novel fabrication strategies (biofabrication), and diagnose biological events with microscopic and biosensing techniques. We use biopolymers, including polysaccharides extracted from crab/insect shells (chitosan), seaweed algae (alginate), and proteins (collagen) to construct 3D hydrogels, fabricate freestanding membranes, establish bilayer lipid membranes, assemble biomolecules, immobilize living cells, and entrap optically-active nanoparticles in microfluidic networks. We design and fabricate integrated bio-microsystems to understand fundamental science and address practical challenges. Novel bio-microsystems developed in our lab find critical applications in protein/metabolic engineering, membrane biology, cell-cell communications, and microbiome in synthetic ecosystems, realizing laboratory functions in microsystems (Lab-on-a-Chip) to expedite novel drug discovery and improve human health.
Integrated BioMicroFluidics (iBMF) Lab | Department of Mechanical Engineering | The Catholic University of America
Office: G37 Pangborn Hall | Lab: B20 Pangborn Hall | 620 Michigan Ave NE, Washington, DC 20064
Tel: 202-319-6952 | Email: luox@cua.edu | https://sites.google.com/cardinalmail.cua.edu/ibmf
iBMF News
2025
06/04/2025: Congratulations to iBMF alumni, Dr. Khanh Ly, for winning the Cosmos Club Scholars Award for her dissertation!
04/02/2025: Congratulations to Long for winning the Best Oral Presentation (Doctoral) for his presentation titled "Electrofabricated Chitosan Membranes on Filter Paper for Household Water Purification in Disaster Relief" at the University Research Day 2025!
2024
05/11/2024: Congratulations to Maria E. for graduating with the University's highest honor, the President's Award, and the Benjamin T. Rome Academic Achievement Award, as well as the Commencement Speaker for the School of Engineering!
04/17/2024: Congratulations to Maria E. and Emma for winning the Best Poster Presentation (Undergraduate) for their research work in iBMF at the University Research Day 2024! Also, congratulations to Daniel, Louis, and Maria H. for their team project, which won the Best Oral Presentation (Undergraduate)!
04/17/2024: Congratulations to iBMF members Maria E., Emma, Louis, and Daniel for presenting at the Catholic University Research Day 2024!
04/11/2024: Biomedical Engineering undergraduate student Maria Hargrave joins iBMF. Welcome, Maria H.!
02/22/2024: Our collaborative paper titled "Recombinant human keratinocyte growth factor ameliorates cancer treatment-induced oral mucositis on a chip" is published on Advanced Healthcare Materials! Congratulations to Khanh and the collaboration team for this high-quality work!
01/19/2024: The iBMF lab welcomes Louis Nwuha and Daniel Zhao, who are in Biomedical Engineering, to conduct research work for their independent studies.
01/02/2024: The iBMF lab welcomes new Ph.D. student Long Duong in Mechanical Engineering to the lab. Welcome, Long!
2023
9/15/2023: Congratulations to Dr. Khanh Ly for successfully defending her dissertation titled "A microfluidic tissue culture model of oral mucositis associated with cancer treatment" under the co-supervision of Dr. Raub and Dr. Luo! Well done, Dr. Ly! Having you in the lab for the last five years was a great pleasure. Thank you for helping manage the iBMF lab. Best wishes for your new journey at NIH!
5/30/2023: Biomedical Engineering undergraduate student Emma Wallace joins the iBMF lab. Welcome, Emma!
2/28/2023: Congratulations to Maria, Dat, and Dr. Luo for being accepted for oral presentations at the University Research Day 2023 on April 18, 2023.
2/23/2023: A new paper titled "Programmable physical properties of freestanding chitosan membranes electrofabricated in microfluidics" has been accepted for publication in Membranes! Congratulations to Khanh and all the co-authors!
2/21/2023: Congratulations to Dr. Le Hoang Phu Pham on successfully defending his dissertation "In vitro Biofilm Model in Calcium Alginate to Probe Antibiotic Susceptibility Assay and Microfluidics Approach to Study Mutual Microbial Interactions"! Well done, Dr. Pham! It was a great pleasure having you in the lab for two years as a master's student and another four years as a Ph.D. student. Best wishes for your new job in CA!
1/9/2023: The iBMF lab welcomes undergraduate student Claire Wang in Biochemistry from UMD to the lab. Welcome, Claire!
2022
12/28/2022: Our collaborative paper with the FDA titled "Dissolvable Alginate Hydrogel-based Biofilm Microreactors for Antibiotic Susceptibility Assays" is accepted for publication on Biofilm! Big congratulations to Phu and all collaborators at CUA and FDA!
10/06/2022: Our paper, "Probing mutual interactions between Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans in a biofabricated membrane-based microfluidic platform", is accepted for publication on Lab on a Chip! Congratulations to Phu and the coworkers in the Choy and Luo labs!
09/20/2022: Our collaborative paper titled "Oral mucositis on a chip: modeling induction by chemo- and radiation treatments and recovery" is accepted for publication on Biofabrication! Congratulations to Khanh, Dr. Raub, and Dr. Luo for this high-quality work!
06/30/2022: Our chemotaxis paper titled "Bacterial chemotaxis in static gradients quantified in a biopolymer membrane-integrated microfluidic platform" is accepted for publication on Lab on a Chip! Congratulations to the whole collaboration team between CUA and Univ. of Maryland!
06/20/2022: Two high school students, Pricilla Ye and Jabez Luo from Reservoir High School, join the lab as summer interns. Welcome!
05/23/2022: The iBMF lab welcomes undergraduate student Maria Erquiaga in Mechanical Engineering to the lab. Welcome, Maria!
04/29/2022: Congratulations to Khanh for giving an oral presentation at the Biomaterials 2022 Annual Meeting and Exposition at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront!
01/25/2022: Congratulations to Khanh on being recognized as a "Cosmos Scholar" and receiving a $4,465 grant from the Cosmos Club Foundation!
01/07/2022: Our collaborative paper, "A dual-modality digital holographic and polarization microscope to quantify phase and birefringence signals in biospecimens with complex microstructure," has been accepted for publication at Biomedical Optics Express. Congratulations to Van, Thuc, Khanh, and the team!
2021
12/24/2021: Congratulations to Khanh as one of the recipients of the Grants in Aid of Research from Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society!
11/19/2021: Congratulations to Dr. Piao Hu on successfully defending her dissertation, "Tailoring Chitosan Membrane-based Microfluidic Platforms to Tackle Biological Challenges"! Well done, Dr. Hu, and best wishes for your new job! Having you in the lab for five years was a great pleasure. Please visit back.
10/15/2021: Congratulations to Phu and Khanh for giving poster presentations at the MicroTAS 2021!
08/26/2021: Phu is one of the recipients of the Edward L., Jr. & Ruth S. Hennessy Distinguished Scholarship Award in the School of Engineering. Congratulations!
08/02/2021: Dr. Luo welcomes his youngest daughter to the family and will take a sabbatical and parental leave in the 2021-2022 academic year.
07/20/2021: Joint lab picnic at Dr. Raub's backyard with students and families of Choy, Luo, and Raub groups!
06/14/2021: The iBMF lab welcomes high school student Abigail Vanasse from Elizabeth Seton High School to work in the lab as a summer intern.
06/01/2021: The iBMF lab welcomes undergraduate student Hanh Hoang in Biomedical Engineering to the lab as a summer intern.
05/07/2021: Our paper titled "Modulating the properties of flow-assembled chitosan membranes in microfluidics with glutaraldehyde crosslinking" features in a Journal of Materials Chemistry B and Biomaterials Science Editor’s Choice Collection on microfluidics. Read the collection here.
04/22/2021: Our paper titled "Tuning the porosity of biofabricated chitosan membranes in microfluidics with co-assembled nanoparticles as templates" has been selected for inclusion in the 2021 Popular Advances collection (including articles that have been very well received by the community), Materials Advances Popular Advances Collection 2021.
04/22/2021: Our recent review paper titled "Flow-assembled chitosan membranes in microfluidics: recent advances and applications" is featured as a back cover of Journal of Materials Chemistry B.
02/18/2021: The first review paper from the group titled "Flow-assembled Chitosan Membranes in Microfluidics: Recent Advances and Applications" is accepted for publication at Journal of Materials Chemistry B. Congratulations to the Khanh, Piao and Phu!
01/04/2021: Our new paper titled "An Oral-on-a-chip Sensitively Evaluates Cell Responses to Dental Monomers" is accepted for publication at Biomedical Microdevices. Congratulations to Khanh, Ali and the team!
2020
10/29/2020: Dr. Luo is one of the Co-Chairs for the University Research Day 2021, which is being planned as both a virtual and an in-person event.
10/09/2020: Congratulations to Khanh for giving a poster presentation at the MicroTAS 2020!
09/04/2020: Our new paper titled "Interfacial Electrofabrication of Freestanding Biopolymer Membranes with Distal Electrodes " is accepted for publication at Langmuir. Congratulations to Piao and the team!
08/26/2020: Both Phu and Khanh are the recipients of the Edward L., Jr. & Ruth S. Hennessy Distinguished Scholarship Award in the School of Engineering. Congratulations!
07/22/2020: Dr. Luo receives an Internship Supplement grant ($47,075) to the NSF CAREER project, which will support Piao to conduct an Internship at NIH.
04/29/2020: Khanh's recent paper is featured as a back cover of Materials Advances. Congratulations!
04/27/2020: Our collaborating paper, "Microfluidic fabrication of stable collagen microgels with aligned microstructure using flow-driven co-deposition and ionic gelation", is accepted for publication in the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering. Congratulations, Santiago!
04/21/2020: Phu is the Finalist at the online University Research Day 2020! Congratulations to Phu for this award recognition!
04/21/2020: Dr. Luo is one of the Co-Chairs of the online Research Day 2020. Welcome to the first ever online Research Day, with a live award ceremony at 4 pm: https://research-day.catholic.edu/. Selective research projects from the iBMF Lab presented by Phu and Khanh are available online for review. Check the numbers about Research Day 2020 on this Spotlight Story: More than 3,000 visitors came to the website to participate in the event, and 212 of them posted follow-up questions or comments to the presenters. Also, check the good summary in THE TOWER.
04/09/2020: Khanh is the recipient of a $3000 grant from the GSA Dissertation Grant award! Big congratulations, Khanh!
03/05/2020: Khanh's paper titled "Tuning the porosity of biofabricated chitosan membranes in microfluidics with co-assembled nanoparticles as template" is accepted for publication at Materials Advances. Congratulations to Khanh!
02/17/2020: Our collaborating paper, "Microstructural densification and alignment by aspiration-ejection influence cancer cell interactions with three-dimensional collagen networks", is accepted for publication at Biotechnology and Bioengineering. Congratulations to Ruby, Manal & Chris!
02/14/2020: Our new paper titled "Modulating the properties of flow-assembled chitosan membranes in microfluidics with glutaraldehyde crosslinking" is accepted for publication in the Journal of Materials Chemistry B. Congratulations to Piao!
01/09/2020: Congratulations to Khanh Ly for delivering a high-quality master's thesis! Hope you the best for beginning your Ph.D. study!
01/08/2020: Our new paper, "Chemotropism among populations of yeast cells with spatiotemporal resolution in a biofabricated microfluidic platform", is accepted for publication at Biomicrofluidics. Congrats to the students Thanh and Sameer and the PIs for the collaborative work!
2019
10/01/2019: Master student Mireille Muhoza (MSE) joins the iBMF lab. Welcome, Mireille!
09/05/2019: Seyed Ali is to graduate with a master's degree. Hope you are all well, Ali!
08/26/2019: Piao is the recipient of the Edward L., Jr. & Ruth S. Hennessy Distinguished Scholarship Award in the School of Engineering. Congratulations, Piao!
08/24/2019: Fourth joint lab picnic at Hammond Park with families and some members from Choy, Luo, Nehmetallah, and Raub groups!
07/23/2019: Dr. Luo is appointed as one of the two Co-chairs of the University Research Day Committee for 2020. See you at URD 2020 (https://research-day.catholic.edu/) on April 21, Tuesday, 2020!
06/17/2019: The iBMF lab welcomes high school student Taisia Mertz from Rockville High School to work in the lab as a summer intern. Welcome!
06/12/2019: Dr. Luo is appointed with continuous tenure at CUA!
05/18/2019: Congratulations to all the graduating undergraduates who have worked in iBMF: Anne Perry, Jesse Williams, Saba Owens, and Abdulaziz Almubaddel! Best for you all in a new life chapter!
05/07/2019: Dr. Luo gave a presentation at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.
04/09/2019: Phu is the Finalist at the 2019 University Research Day (URD)! Congratulations, Phu!
04/09/2019: Piao, Ali, and Phu from the iBMF lab presented three oral presentations at the 2019 University Research Day (URD).
04/15/2019: The iBMF lab has moved!
01/02/2019: The iBMF lab welcomes our alumni Le Hoang Phu Pham back to pursue his Ph.D. degree! Nice to have you back, Phu!
2018
10/21/2018: Congratulations to Piao, Ali, and Anne, who gave poster presentations at BMES 2018 Annual Meeting in Atlanta, GA! Dr. Luo also chaired a session at the meeting.
10/10/2018: Saba Owens was featured on the university profiles: https://www.catholic.edu/catholic-university-profiles/saba-owens.html
09/19/2018: Master student Khanh Ly (BME) joins the iBMF lab. Welcome, Khanh!
09/06/2018: Our new paper titled "Oral Mucosa-on-A-Chip to Assess Layer-Specific Responses to Bacteria and Dental Materials " is accepted for publication at Biomicrofluidics. Congratulations to the whole collaborative team at both CUA and ADA!
08/23/2018: Seyed Ali is the Finalist in the Student Poster Competition at the 2018 ASME NanoEngineering for Medicine and Biology (NEMB) Conference. Congratulations, Ali!
08/21/2018: Our new paper titled "A Simple Capillary Viscometer Based on the Ideal Gas Law" is accepted for publication at RSC Advances. Congrats to all the students Phu, Luis, and Deyvid who worked on this paper!
08/16/2018: Third joint lab picnic at the sand volleyball courts by the Lincoln Memorial with families and some members from Choy, Chung, Luo, and Raub groups! Time was too good to miss many student members before snapping the photos! See you next year.
06/12/2018: Seyed Ali is selected for NSF-supported Student's Travel Award to the 2018 ASME NanoEngineering for Medicine and Biology (NEMB) Conference. The award will provide $750 for support of attending the NEMB 2018 conference in Los Angeles from August 21 – 24. Congratulations, Ali!
06/06/2018: Dr. Luo and Dr. Choy are to be awarded an NIH R15 grant totaling $462K to study the synthetic microbiome in the fluitrode platform. Check out more here.
06/04/2018: Undergraduate student Anne Perry joins iBMF. Welcome, Anne!
05/12/2018: Congratulations to Kuanyu (Suker) Li, who graduated with dual degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Philosophy and published a journal paper with the first authorship in four years!
05/12/2018: Congratulations to Piao for receiving her master's degree in ME!
05/03/2018: Dr. Luo receives the REU Supplement award for the NSF CAREER project, which will support one full-time undergraduate student for summer 2018.
04/20/2018: Dr. Luo serves as the Outside Discussant for the BioCHIPS Gemstone Honors Program at the University of Maryland.
04/20/2018: Dr. Luo gave a presentation at FDA, and the iBMF lab welcome Alexa Guittari as an intern to join the collaborative team with FDA for summer 2018.
04/19/2018: The iBMF lab showcases 2 oral and 3 poster presentations for research performed in or collaborated with iBMF at the 2018 University Research Day (URD).
02/05/2018: Collaborative paper with Hu group about anisotropic whitewood for microfluidics is published at ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
01/17/2018: Our new paper about "fluitrodes" is accepted for publication in Advanced Biosystems. Big congrats to Phu and Ali for this groundbreaking and high-quality paper!
01/17/2018: Dr. Luo gave an invited colloquium lecture in the Department of Physics at CUA.
01/04/2018: Congratulations to Thinh Lee, who completed his master's thesis in Mechanical Engineering with an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering! Best wishes to Thinh as a new Ph.D. student at the University of Connecticut!
2017
10/27/2017: Congratulations to Phu for giving a poster presentation at the MicroTAS 2017!
10/26/2017: Research in the iBMF lab is featured in the URD 2017 report in the CUA Magazine in Fall 2017 issue titled "New Platform for Biological Study".
10/14/2017: Congratulations to Jesse and Saba, who both gave poster presentations at BMES 2017 Annual Meeting in Phoenix, AZ for the first time! Presentations at BMES 2017 also include research work conducted at iBMF by Manal (presented by Santiago), Ben and Chris the twin, and Thanh (presented by Dr. Luo). Congrats to all!
09/27/2017: The iBMF lab welcomes new Ph.D. student Jin Ou in Biology! Dr. Luo will be the co-adviser for Jin together with Dr. Choy in Biology. Welcome, Jin!
09/22/2017: Congratulations to Thanh Vo, who completed his master's thesis in Mechanical Engineering with an undergraduate degree in Computer Science! Thank you, Thanh, for helping set up the lab, working with high schoolers, and getting good research done in two years!
09/21/2017: Dr. Luo gave an invited seminar in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Iowa State University.
08/31/2017: Congratulations to Awatef for the new journal paper about magnetic nanoparticle-loaded alginate beads being accepted for publication at Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces!
08/30/2017: Congratulations to Thinh and Ali, both giving oral presentations at the international conference ICNMM 2017 in Boston, MA for the first time!
08/22/2017: A new paper about chemotaxis with UMD collaborators is published on Biomicrofluidics.
08/09/2017: Second joint lab picnic at the sand volleyball courts by the Lincoln Memorial with some members from Choy, Chung, Luo, and Raub groups!
07/31/2017: The iBMF lab welcomes high school student Zach Hsieh from Dematha Catholic High School to work in the lab. Welcome!
06/09/2017: Our new paper about birefringence of flow-assembled chitosan membrane is accepted for publication on Biofabrication. Big congrats to our rising senior Suker as well as graduate students Phu and Santiago for this high quality paper!
05/25/2017: Dr. Luo is promoted to the rank of Associate Professor, effective August 20, 2017!
05/19/2017: Undergraduate student Saba Owens (BME) will join the iBMF lab from summer 2017. Welcome, Saba!
05/15/2017: Undergraduate student Jesse Williams (ME) joins the iBMF lab from summer 2017. Welcome, Jesse!
05/11/2017: Congratulations to Phu Pham, who finished his high-quality master's thesis! Thank you, Phu, for helping set up and manage the lab and getting wonderful research work done in two years! Pictured below are Phu, Ali, Kathleen, Thanh, and Dr. Luo at the congratulatory lunch for Phu.
04/20/2017: Congratulations to iBMF member Kathleen Sheridan with her senior design team who receive the best poster award at the University Research Day. The poster titled "Laser-Based Tracking System for the Characterization of Nanoparticles" was advised by our close collaborator Dr. Raub in BME Department.
04/20/2017: Congratulations to Dr. Luo who receives the University Young Faculty Scholar's Award presented by the Provost at the Research Day.
04/20/2017: The CUA Research Day showcases 1 oral and 10 poster presentations for research performed in or in collaboration with the iBMF lab.
02/14/2017: Dr. Luo receives the REU Supplement award for the NSF CAREER project, which will support one full-time undergraduate student for summer 2017.
01/30/2017: Ph.D. student Seyed Ali Rooholghodos joins iBMF. Welcome on board, Ali!
2016
12/10/2016: Master students Manal Alsamiri and Laurie Wei join iBMF. Welcome, Manal and Laurie!
11/30/2016: A new paper about air bubble steering for membrane biofabrication is accepted for publication on Lab on a Chip. Congrats to the student authors Phu and Thanh!
11/01/2016: Our perspective paper on bacterial chemotaxis is accepted for publication in Biomicrofluidics.
10/10/2016: Luo and Raub's labs presented at BMES in Minneapolis, MN!
09/06/2016: Ph.D. student Piao Hu joins iBMF. Welcome, Piao!
08/29/2016: Congratulations to Kuanyu (Suker) for his summer research submission being selected for oral presentation at the Biofabrication 2016 Conference to be held in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA, October 29-31, 2016! Well done, Suker and coworkers!
08/26/2016: Congratulations to Dominic and Kathleen for their undergraduate summer research submissions being selected to present at BMES! This is the second year in a roll that our undergraduate summer research is selected for oral presentation at BMES (one of the 30 oral presentations out of 600+ accepted undergraduate presentations in 2016!). Well done, folks!
08/24/2016: The Luo and Raub Labs having fun with the joint lab picnic at the sand volleyball courts by the Lincoln Memorial!
08/16/2016: Our static gradients paper is now accepted for publication on Lab on a Chip! Congratulations to all the student authors Thanh, Phu, and Fahad!
07/15/2016: Phu, Thanh, and Dr. Luo together presented two oral and two poster presentations at the 14th International Conference on Nanochannels, Minichannels, and Microchannels held July 10-14, in Washington DC. Well done!
05/19/2016: Welcome graduate student Thinh Le and undergraduate student Kathleen O'Brien to the lab!
05/14/2016: Dr. Luo receives the Kaman Excellence in Research Award in the School of Engineering!
05/02/2016: The iBMF Lab holds its open house and welcomes ME Advisory Board members and SOE faculty visiting the lab! The microfabrication-outside-clean-room facility in iBMF now can do photolithography of photoresists and electrodes (metal deposition has to be done elsewhere) with resolution down to single micrometers, and soft lithography to fabricate microfluidic devices.
01/27/2016: Dr. Luo receives NSF CAREER award for a proposal titled: CAREER "Highly stable lipid bilayers on freestanding cytoskeleton-like membrane"! The $500K funding will support research and education activities from 2016 to 2021.
01/19/2016: High school students Aaraj Vij and Vishnu Murthy (from Thomas Jefferson High School of Science and Technology) visit the iBMF lab and will conduct microfluidic research under Dr. Luo's mentorship. Welcome!
01/15/2016: Graduate student Thanh Vo joins the iBMF lab. Welcome!
2015
11/03/2015: Undergraduates Colleen Cahill and Alex Quicksell join the lab for research. Welcome!
10/13/2015: Check the Departmental News for Alex Laprade's presentation at BMES!
10/06/2015: Congrats to Luis Bautista for completing his master's thesis for graduation in October 2015!
09/22/2015: Graduate students Fahad Jambi and Phu Pham join the lab to work on their master's thesis. Welcome!
09/04/2015: Congrats to Alex Laprade for his summer research work being selected for oral presentation at the Undergraduate Research, Design and Leadership I section at BMES. Alex is among the 29 oral presenters out of 450 submissions of undergraduate research abstracts to BMES. Well done, Alex! See you in Tampa!
08/07/2015: Dr. Luo will present at BMES in October in Tampa, FL for research on bacterial chemotaxis study.
07/25/2015: Dr. Luo gave an invited lecture seminar on his research at Xiamen University!
05/28/2015: iBMF welcomes undergraduate Elizabeth Coyle to join the research team at UMD for research in chemotaxis study.
05/20/2015: iBMF welcomes undergraduates Alex Laprade and Kuanyi (Suker) Li to join the lab for undergraduate research!
05/16/2015: Congrats to Dominic Renner for receiving his B.S. degree with the prestigious ASME leadership award! Best wishes for his new journey in graduate school in Georgia!
02/10/2015: Dr. Luo's new paper on bacterial signaling in a synthetic ecosystem is accepted by Lab on a Chip!
2014
12/06/2014: iBMF launches its new website.
12/05/2014: Luis Bautista join the iBMF lab to work on his master's thesis. Welcome!
10/25/2014: Undergraduate Dominic Renner presents his summer research at the BMES conference. Congratulations, Dominic!
04/21/2014: Here is what iBMF looked like at this time
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