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John
S. Oakey
Assistant Research Professor
BS
- The Pennsylvania State University
MS, Ph.D. - Colorado School of Mines
Microfluidics, Biodiagnostics, Complex Fluids, Novel Materials Synthesis
Research
Description
The general theme of my research is the creation and application of novel
microfluidic instrumentation for the broad field of biodiagnostics. Microfluidics
as a technological platform harbors the potential to provide revolutionary
biomedical tools for the next generation of health care. Developing technology
for its own sake and seeking applications secondarily, however is a sure
route to clumsy implementation. Armed with this philosophy, I approach
technology development from an applied perspective and remain focused
upon the end user at all times. Simultaneously, I strive to generate
a thorough fundamental understanding of microscale fluid dynamics and
the unique microfluidic processes that may be exploited for novel device
creation. Specifically, my approach is to strike a balance of predictive
modeling, intuition and experimentation to create design heuristics for
device fabrication and implementation. Examples of my research interests
include:
Microfluidic Cell Handling
The cornerstone of a successful biodiagnostic
platform shall be the capability to accept, analyze and handle cellular
samples with accuracy and high throughput. As such, microfluidic cell
sorting is at the core of my research efforts. This focus has produced
a novel cell sorting platform based upon a combination of microfluidic
manipulation and the precise application of optical forces. An ancillary
accomplishment to this task has been a highly sophisticated level of
control over pressure-driven flows on the microscale, which we are
currently working to exploit for robust, portable cell handling
instrumentation.
Microscale Hematological Behavior
Multi-phase flows and complex fluid
behavior within microchannels is a unifying theme of my research. The
extreme realization of this interest in the creation of microscale
bioanalytical devices is the handling of blood in microfluidic
systems. A fundamental
understanding of the behavior of blood within foreign, confining geometries
is crucial to the construction of functional analytical devices for
both clinical and research applications.
Novel Microfluidic Devices
A component of microfluidics’ lure as
an analytical platform lies in its capacity for many-fold parallel
and redundant operations. In addition to exploiting this potential
for applied
purposes I am also interested in developing massively parallel device
arrays for versatile on-chip fluid control. Examples of these collaborative
efforts include optically driven pumps and valves. Additionally I
am pursuing a comprehensive fluid propulsion and control platform based
upon dominant surface forces at the microscale. Such a scheme is
ideal
for biofluid manipulation within portable, single-use devices.
Contact
Information
John S. Oakey
Chemical Engineering Department
Colorado School of Mines
Golden, CO 80401
Office: (303) 273-3172
FAX: (303) 568-7818
joakey@mines.edu
