Carl Hansen

Profile Details

Position/Role

Faculty

Website

http://www.chibi.ubc.ca/faculty/hansen/labhome

Research Interests

Our group conducts cross-disciplinary research aimed at the development and application of microfluidic technology for high-throughput biology. In particular we are exploiting new advances in large scale microfluidic integration to address bottlenecks in genomics, proteomics, and cell biology.

Our research is focused on the development of new microsystems tools for biology and on the validation of these tools in the context of outstanding problems in biology and medicine. Through unprecedented integration and economy of scale, these microsystems tools will enable highly multiplexed measurements with increased throughput and dramatic savings in sample consumption and cost. Moreover, the unique physical properties of the micro-environment will be exploited to increase experimental precision and sensitivity, and to implement new types of measurements that are difficult, or impossible, in macroscopic devices. This work naturally lies at the interface of the physical sciences, engineering, and biology. Therefore, students will have the opportunity to work in a highly interdisciplinary environment and to collaborate with researchers from varied academic departments and with industry.

Current Areas of Research:

Three areas of research are single cell manipulation and analysis, protein interaction and molecular diagnostics, and microfluidic-based structural biology. A variety of exciting research projects are currently available in these areas.

Rationale:

Discovery in biology and medicine is driven by the development of analytical technologies that allow for detailed and multiparameter analysis at the sequence, transcriptional, and translational level. Major advances, including sequencing technologies, microarray analysis, and mass spectrometry have transformed the biological sciences, allowing for multi-level genome-wide analysis. Despite this impact, biology and medicine have remained "data-starved" sciences, in need of new tools capable of making faster and more precise measurements at reduced costs. Furthermore, these tools must address general problems of scarcity, complexity, and heterogeneity that are nearly always present in biological samples.

Technology Plaform:

We will exploit a recent breakthrough in microfluidic fabrication techniques call Multilayer Soft Lithography (MSL) to develop lab-on-a-chip technologies that enable new measurements, increased precision, and highly multiplexed analysis of biological samples. MSL technology uses consecutive replica molding from micromachined masters and bonding steps to generate complex multilayer fluidic structures in a monolithic device. Planar channel structures, separated by only a thin flexible elastomeric membrane, may be integrated into a monolithic polymer chip. The orthogonal crossing of channel structures in two adjacent layers creates a deflectable membrane valve. This forgiving fabrication technique allows for the routine large-scale integration of thousands of microvalves on an area of approximately 2 cm^2 without defects. As a fundamental element, these valves may be used to build up higher level fluidic components including mixers, peristaltic pumps, and fluidic multiplexing structures. The synergy of these components allows for the realization of previously unattainable levels of integration and on-chip liquid handling functionality.

Selected Publications

Lau, B. T. C., Baitz, C. A., Dong, X. P., Hansen, C. L., A Complete Microfluidic Screening Platform for Rational Protein Crystallization, (2007)
JACS 129, 454-455

Anderson M.J., Hansen C.L., Quake S.R., Phase Knowledge Enables Rational Screens for Protein Crystallization, (2006) Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 103, 16746–16751

Hansen, C.L., Classen S., Berger J.M., Quake, S.R. A Microfluidic Device for Kinetic Optimization of Protein Crystallization and In Situ Structure Determination, (2006) JACS, 128 (10) : 3142 - 3143.

Balagadde, F.K., You, L., Hansen, C.L., Arnold, F.H. & Quake, S.R. Long-term Monitoring of Bacteria Undergoing Programmed Oscillations in a Microchemostat, (2005) Science, 309: 137-140.

Hansen, C.L., Sommer, M. O. & Quake, S. R., Systematic investigation of protein phase behavior with a microfluidic formulator. (2004) Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 101, 14431-14436.

Liu, J., Hansen, C. & Quake, S. R. (2003), Solving the "world-to-chip" interface problem with a microfluidic matrix. Analytical Chemistry 75, 4718-4723.

Hansen, C. L. & Quake, S. R. (2003), Microfluidics in structural biology: smaller, faster … better. Current opinion in structural biology 13, 538-544.

Hansen, C. L., Skordalakes, E., Berger, J. M. & Quake, S. R., A robust and scalable microfluidic metering method that allows protein crystal growth by free interface diffusion, (2002) Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 99, 16531-16536.

History

Member for

1 year 31 weeks