People
Lab members
Elain Fu | Associate Professor, Oregon State University, Chemical, Biological, and Environmental Engineering |
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Elain has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Maryland and an Sc.B. in physics from Brown University. She transitioned to the field of bioengineering as a Research Scientist in the laboratory of Paul Yager at the University of Washington. Elain was a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington from 2010 to 2013. She joined the faculty at Oregon State University in the School of Chemical, Biological, and Environmental Engineering in the autumn of 2013. She is currently an Associate Professor in Bioengineering. |
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Corey Downs | OSU Ph.D. student (August 2015 to present) | ||
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Corey joined the lab as a chemical engineering Ph.D. student after obtaining a B.S. in bioengineering from OSU. He is working on developing simple low-cost electrochemical sensors for use in precision health applications. He is a co-author on three publications from our lab. |
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Mike Rodriguez | OSU Ph.D. student (March 2017 to present) | ||
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Mike joined the lab as a chemical engineering Ph.D. student after obtaining a B.S. in chemistry from Trinity University. He is working to improve the sensitivty of immunoassays in paper microfluidic devices. |
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Lael Wentland | OSU Ph.D. student (September 2017 to present) | ||
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Lael joined the lab as a bioengineering Ph.D. student after obtaining a B.S. in Bioengineering from the University of Washington. She is working on the development of a home phenylalanine monitor. |
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Arianna Nejely | OSU undergraduate researcher (June 2017 to present) | ||
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Arianna is a bioengineering major at OSU. She joined the lab as a Johnson Intern in 2017, and has been developing methods of wax patterning in porous materials. |
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Kian Patel | OSU undergraduate researcher (Winter 2018 to present) | ||
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Kian is a chemical engineering major at OSU. He joined the lab as a Johnson Intern in 2018, and has been developing methods of dry reagent preservation. |
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Rachel Polaski | OSU undergraduate researcher (Fall 2017 to present) | ||
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Rachel is a bioengineering major at OSU. She joined the lab in 2017, and received a Johnson summer internship in 2018. She is developing a valve for paper microfluidic devices. |
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Caitlin Reid | OSU undergraduate researcher (June 2016 to present) | ||
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Caitlin is an undergraduate in the bioengineering program at OSU. She joined the lab as a Johnson intern, and is completing her Honors College thesis project on the topic of improving stencil-printed electrodes in porous materials. |

Group hike of the East Ridge trail on Mary's Peak in the summer of 2018. From left to right, Kian, Lael, Rachel, Elain, and Corey. Madeleine, Caitlin, Arianna, and Mike are not pictured.
Former lab members
Madeleine Adams | OSU undergraduate researcher (March 2017 to June 2019) | ||
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Madeleine graduated from OSU with a B.S. degree in chemical engineering. She contributed to the phenylalanine monitor project during her time at OSU. Madeleine is a Process Engineer at Corning Incorporated. |
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David Cornwell | OSU undergraduate researcher (June 2015 to June 2018) | ||
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David graduated from OSU with a B.S. degree in bioengineering. He joined the lab as a Johnson intern and worked as a 2nd year Johnson intern during the following summer. He completed his Honors College thesis on the topic of an alginate-based valve. David is in medical school at OHSU. |
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Kim De Los Reyes | UW capstone student (February 2013 to June 2014) | ||
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Kim was motivated to join the lab because of its focus on developing tests that could be used to diagnose and then treat those in need in low-resource settings. For her Capstone project, Kim worked on the development of a paper-based assay for phenyalanine detection, focusing on storing reagents in dry form. Kim has the goal of joining a nonprofit organization with an emphasis on the development of point-of-care diagnostic devices. |
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Dylan Hinson | OSU undergraduate researcher (January 2014 to July 2016) | ||
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Dylan joined the lab on an URSA ENGAGE award and worked on modeling immunoassay systems. Dylan received OSU Bioenergy Scholarships in 2014 and 2015 and completed a Bioenergy thesis project on the topic of paper-based detection of phenolic compounds in 2016. He graduated from OSU BioE and served as a Peace Corp volunteer in Namibia. |
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Jared Houghtaling | UW capstone student (March 2011 to June 2014) | ||
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Jared worked on multiple projects in the lab, including the development of a novel method of metering fluids in paper-based devices, and for his Capstone project, the development of an immunoassay for small molecule detection. During his time at UW, Jared was the recipient of two Mary Gates Research Scholarships, a Bioengineering Scholarship, and a Washington Research Foundation Scholarship. He is a co-author on four publications from the lab. Jared was awarded an NSF graduate fellowship and received a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan. |
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Jessy Imdieke | OSU undergraduate researcher (June 2014 to Spring 2017) | ||
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Jessy graduated from the bioengineering program at OSU with a B.S. degree. She joined the lab as a Johnson intern and was awarded a second year Johnson internship for the summer of 2015. She developed a cost-effective method for stamping antibodies onto nitrocellulose substrates. She presented her work at BMES in the fall of 2015 and her research was published in 2017. She is working at a biomedical product company in the Bay area. |
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Tinny Liang | UW M.S. and capstone student >(January 2010 to December 2014) |
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Tinny received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Bioengineering from the University of Washington. As an undergraduate, she won numerous awards including Mary Gates Research and Leadership Scholarships, a Bioengineering Scholarship, and was named a Levinson Emerging Scholar. She was also awarded an NSF Fellowship to complete her M.S. work. Tinny's research focused on the development of a high sensitivity paper-based diagnostic test for malaria. She is a co-author on six publications from the lab. After graduation, Tinny plans to become a physician researcher and contribute innovative solutions to medical problems to improve the quality of life of suffering patients all over the world. She is a medical student at the University of Washington. |
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Brittney McKenzie | UW capstone student (January 2012 to June 2013) | ||
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Brittney was motivated to join the lab from her experience of witnessing loved ones, living in her parents' home country, suffer from preventable and treatable infectious diseases. For her Capstone project in Bioengineering at the University of Washington, Brittney developed a novel method of sequencing fluids in paper-based devices. During her time in the lab, she was supported by the NASA Summer Undergraduate Research Program and a Mary Gates Research Scholarship. She is a co-author on one publication from the lab. Brittney is a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Riverside. |
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Robert Robinson | OSU M.S. student (June 2014 to June 2016) | ||
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Robert joined the lab after obtaining a B.S. in chemical engineering from OSU. He contributed to multiple projects during his time in the lab and was a co-author on three publications. He graduated with an M.S. degree in chemical engineering in 2016 and is working at Intel. |
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Devin Seitz | OSU researcher (June 2015 to December 2015) | ||
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Devin has a B.S. in chemical engineering from OSU. He completed a senior design project in the lab and then worked for six months with us on the topic of dry reagent preservation. |
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Wyatt Self | OSU undergraduate researcher (March 2014 to January 2016) | ||
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Wyatt worked to develop a test for the detection of bacteria in a milk sample, a project funded by the OSU Agricultural Research Foundation. He was awarded a second year Johnson internship for the summer of 2014. He graduated from OSU with a degree in chemical engineering in 2016. |
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Greg Thiessen | UW M.S. student (September 2012 to August 2014) | ||
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Greg was drawn to this research because of its ultimate goal to reduce the worldwide burden of disease, especially in low-resource settings. Greg completed his Master's degree in my lab at the University of Washington working on the development of a field test for the detection of phenyalanine. He is a co-author on three publications from the lab. |
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Anthony To | OSU undergraduate researcher (June 2015 to Spring 2017) | ||
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Anthony graduated from OSU with a B.S. degree in bioengineering. He completed his Honors College thesis project on wax transfer printing in porous substrates. He is a co-author on one publication from the lab. |
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Liam Wong | OSU undergraduate researcher (March 2014 to Spring 2017) | ||
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Liam graduated from OSU with a B.S. degree in chemical engineering. He was awarded a second year Johnson internship for the summer of 2014. He completed an Honors College thesis on the topic of a semi-quantitative test for PKU patients and is the co-author on a publication from our lab. Liam is a medical student at OHSU. |
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Jeff Yang | UW capstone student (October 2011 to June 2014) | ||
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Jeff was motivated to join the lab through his interest in diagnostics and desire to conduct research in an area with life-saving potential. For his Capstone project, he developed methods to control the velocity of fluids in paper-based devices to improve their efficiency. Jeff has the goal of becoming an Emergency Room physician and hopes to see these devices being used to help diagnose patients. Jeff is a medical student at Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine. |