RESEARCH

Study for the role of hypoxia and stem-like cancer cells in cancer drug resistance: The objective of the proposed research is not only to elucidate the role of tumor hypoxic microenvironment and cancer stem cells in cancer drug resistance but also to test the cytotoxicity of the hypoxia-activated drugs as well as drugs targeting cancer-stem-cells by using a physiologically relevant in vitro tumor chip with an actively enforced oxygen-gradient to replicate the 3D tumor hypoxic microenvironment.

 The objective of this study is to develop a truly useful and predictive model of the liver that mimics not only its architecture but also its cellular heterogeneity. Dr. Kang has been working on the development of novel microfluidic platforms for a study of actively controlled in vitro liver zonation since the year of 2011. His research will be extended to study 1) molecular events responding to hypoxia gradient in hepatocytes and 2) fatty acid patterning of hepatocytes by using the microfluidic device, “liver on a chip”.

Also, he attempts to develop the in vitro liver model using stem cells that have a strong potential to differentiate into various cell types and to regenerate. Hepatocytes and cholangiocytes will be derived from liver progenitor cells. He will investigate the human hepatocyte-/cholangiocyte functionality and liver structure formed by organoids that are self-organized from stem cell differentiation in the three-dimensional culture system.

A novel wound healing model by using a microfluidic device will comprise of a) a reproducible burn wound generation approach via heating element/electrode, b) an actively controlled oxygen-gradient generator, and c) a dual/single channel microfluidic device resembling physiological dimension. The co-culture models of burn wound healing  will provide a useful tool for studying the role of varying levels of hypoxia during wound healing in a reproducible manner, unlike current models which rely on users to make incisions.

It is important to early detect various diseases including cancers and liver drug toxicity by sensing the occurrence of specific bio-markers in human blood vessels. For early detection of various diseases, the predictive point-of-care diagnostics devices have been developed by using microfabrication and microfluidics technologies. In his research, However, there is still a need to develop the accurate and high-throughput point-of-care diagnostic devices to detect the miRNA, pathogen, virus, and the specific biological components using Bio-MEMS technologies.

Biomechanics in sports and physical therapy provides quantitative analysis of momentum, stress, stain, and angle in human movement of both the healthy and patients. It not only gives us understanding normal and pathological motion, physical performance, and mechanism of injury, but also it minimizes the risk of injury and improves sport performance. It is expected that the personalized scientific physical therapy method will be provided by incorporating biomechanics with physical therapy.