E-mail Dr. Landers
Dr. Landers' CV

    James Landers is currently Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Virginia, as well as Associate Professor of Pathology at the University of Virginia Health System. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry with a minor in Biomedicine and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Guelph in Ontario (Canada) in 1984 and 1988, respectively. After a year as a post-doctoral fellow at the Banting Institute at the University of Toronto School of Medicine, as a Canadian Medical Research Council (MRC) Fellow at the Mayo Clinic-Rochester, he studied cancer biology and diagnostics under Thomas Spelsberg, a renowned breast cancer biochemist. He launched and directed Mayo Clinic’s Clinical Capillary Electrophoresis Facility in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, developing clinical assays based on capillary electrophoretic technology.
    Dr. Landers joined the Chemistry Department at the University of Pittsburgh in 1997, where he forayed into analytical microfluidic systems with the goal of developing the next generation molecular diagnostics platform. This research was bolstered by the move in 1999 to the University of Virginia where access to a dedicated class-100 cleanroom for microchip fabrication allowed for rapid prototyping of microdevices for separations, DNA purification, and DNA amplification. His group was among the first to generate a fully integrated lab-on-a-chip (PNAS 103:19272, 2006), successfully applied to detecting infectious agents in biofluids and cancer diagnostics, and more recently defined new approaches to fluidic control on microchips (NATURE Physics 5:231, 2009). He has authored more than 180 papers and 25 book chapters on topics as diverse as receptor biochemistry, capillary electrophoretic method development, microchip fabrication, forensic DNA analysis and integrated microfluidic systems for application to both the clinical and forensic arenas. In addition, he has recently completed the third in the succession of editions of CRC Press Handbook of Capillary Electrophoresis, with this one extrapolated to microchip electrophoresis and associated microtechniques.

E-mail Jerome
Jerome's CV

      Current research efforts are focused on the development of microfluidic devices and instrumentation for detection and analysis of biomarkers specific for the diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutic monitoring of cancer from fine needle biopsies.  This development involves the design and fabrication of new chromatographic media for implementation in microfluidic devices used for immobilization of proteins for affinity chromatographic capture of biomarkers.  The new media allows for direct on-column detection of the captured proteins using sandwich type assays as well as interrogation to determine the extents of post-translational modifications.
    A second part of this project involves the design and construction of bench top laser induced fluorescence detection systems for use with the microfluidic devices. This project uses low cost diode lasers excitation, coupled to photodiode based detection, employing optical technology for decreasing the background to promote the sensitivity of the detection

Carmen Reedy

    My current research focuses on DNA extraction on a microfluidic device for genetic and clinical analysis. A volume reduction DNA extraction microfluidic device, using a silica solid phase, has been developed and shown capable of concentration and volume reduction of large volume samples that are often encountered in forensics, such as stains or solubilized bone. The device has also been shown to be applicable for the extraction of mitochondrial DNA.
    Additional DNA extraction devices being developed are high surface area poly (methyl methacrylate) plastic microdevices which provide the opportunity for disposal after single-use, ideal for point-of-care in physician’s offices. Additional current research uses acoustic capture technology on a microfluidic device for the separation of bacteria and viruses from clinical samples. The development of this device would provide physician’s a point-of-care device that will discern whether a patient has a bacterial or viral infection therefore reducing the over-prescription of antibiotics.