
Overview
Background
Currently looking for motivated PhD candidates from diverse disciplines, including but not limited to engineering (e.g., mechanical, biomedical, mechatronics, materials, and chemical), information technology, physics and biomedicine.
Fully funded PhD scholarship is available:
https://study.uq.edu.au/study-options/phd-mphil-professional-doctorate/projects/viscoelastic-microfluidics-biomedical-and-environmental-applications
Dr Dan Yuan is a Lecturer in Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering (2022 - ongoing) and an ARC DECRA Fellow (2024 - 2027) within the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering (SoMME) at the University of Queensland. Dan has been successful in obtaining competitive grant funding including over $1.6M as chief investigator in a range of projects (ARC DECRA Fellowship, ARC LIEF, Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellowship, Alfred Deakin Postdoctoral Research Fellowship). She completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong (UOW) in 2018. After graduation, she continued her research at UOW as an Associate Research Fellow. From 2019 to 2021, she was a JSPS Research Fellow in the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Tokyo. From 2021 to 2022, she worked as an Alfred Deakin Research Fellow at Deakin University.
Based on the micro-nano devices, she was doing interdisciplinary research of mechatronics, chemistry, physics, optics, environmental and biomedical applications, aiming at addressing real-life challenges in both environment and biomedicine. Her research interests are microfluidics, microfabrication, development of point-of-need devices for environmental and biomedical applications, intelligent image activated cell sorting, and smart sensors, materials and platforms.
In less than 10 years’ research time, she published over 70 peer-reviewed journal articles which have received > 4000 citations. The prestigious journals include Adv. Funct. Mater., Nat. Commun., Small, Lab Chip, Microsystems & Nanoengineering, and Anal. Chem. She currently has an h-index of 30. She was the Guest Editor for Biosensors (2022), Frontiers in Medical Technology (2021-2022); regular independent reviewer for more than 10 international journals such as ACS Nano, Lab on a Chip, Analytical Chemistry, Microsystems and Nanoengineering, Scientific Reports, IEEE Transactions on Mechatronics, Microfluidics and Nanofluidics, Cytometry Part A. etc.
Master's and PhD positions are opening. The potential research projects include physics of fluid flow (especially non-Newtonian fluids) in micro/nano-channels, manipulation and separation of micro-/nanoparticles and fluid control, development of point-of-need devices for environmental and biomedical applications (e.g. disease diagnosis and therapeutics), intelligent microfluidics. Candidates with backgrounds in engineering (e.g., mechanical, mechatronics, materials, chemical and biomedical etc.), information technology, physics and biomedicine are welcome to enquiry.
Availability
- Dr Dan Yuan is:
- Available for supervision
Research impacts
Dr Dan Yuan is a lead researcher in the field of viscoelastic microfluidics and its applications. She has developed comprehensive understanding of fundamental physics for particle migration in microfluidics especially viscoelastic microfluidics, which could expand the boundary of current knowledge. Also, she has developed cutting-edge microfluidic technologies for particle and cell manipulation and separation, aiming at addressing real-life challenges in both biomedicine and environment. Her research achievements and emerging reputation have been acknowledged by the broader scientific community. She was awarded the competitive ARC DECRA Fellowship, Alfred Deakin Research Fellowship and JSPS Fellowship as a chief investigator and secured over $1.6M AUD research funding in total.
She was the first to develop viscoelastic fluids-based microdevices for cell manipulation and apply them to extract blood plasma from blood with ultra-high purity (Lab Chip, 2016, 16(20): 3919-3928.). This work has attracted international interests due to its potential in cancer diagnostics and prognosis, as evidenced by reports of her discovery by worldwide media in 2017: Health Canal (United States); Technology Networks (United Kingdom); UOW (University of Wollongong) news (Australia); X-MOL (China); et al. This ground-breaking research has been selected as the cover page of Lab Chip. Her work of developing viscoelastic microfluidic devices for cell purification (Lab Chip, 2019, 19(17): 2811-2821.) was selected as the cover page of Lab Chip, and was listed as one of Lab Chip’s highest citing papers contributing to its Impact Factor 7.517 (with 19 alone in 2021). This novel platform technology has started to transform the way cells are identified and purified, and is also paving the way for addressing problems with microalgae contamination in industrial processes. In addition to the size-based cell manipulation, she also pioneered the area of shape-based separation techniques and applied this to the separation of cyanobacteria, demonstrating the ability to manipulate cells based on morphologies and with a size of >100 μm (Anal. Chem. 2021, 93, 37, 12648–12654). This is a revolutionary achievement opening opportunities and applications in research fields not yet employing microfluidic technologies. This work was featured as a cover page article and has been interviewed and reported by media X-MOL (China). Her review article on the recent progress of particle migration in viscoelastic fluid (Lab Chip. 2018 18 (4): 551-567.) was listed as Web of Science Highly Cited paper.
Works
Search Professor Dan Yuan’s works on UQ eSpace
2025
Journal Article
Investigating T‐Cell Receptor Dynamics Under <i>In Vitro</i> Antibody‐Based Stimulation Using Imaging Flow Cytometry
Isozaki, Akihiro, Kita, Kazuma, Tiffany Ishii, Natsumi, Oka, Yuma, Herbig, Maik, Yamagishi, Mai, Wakamiya, Tsubasa, Araki, Taketo, Matsumura, Hiroki, Harmon, Jeffrey, Shirasaki, Yoshitaka, Huang, Kangrui, Zhao, Yaqi, Yuan, Dan, Hayashi, Mika, Ding, Tianben, Okamoto, Yuji, Kishimoto, Ayuko, Ishii, Masaru, Yanagida, Masatoshi and Goda, Keisuke (2025). Investigating T‐Cell Receptor Dynamics Under In Vitro Antibody‐Based Stimulation Using Imaging Flow Cytometry. Cytometry Part A, 107 (2), 88-97. doi: 10.1002/cyto.a.24916
2024
Journal Article
Ultra-stretchable microfluidic devices for optimizing particle manipulation in viscoelastic fluids
Kang, Xiaoyue, Ma, Jingtao, Cha, Haotian, Hansen, Helena H.W.B., Chen, Xiangxun, Ta, Hang T., Tian, Fangbao, Nguyen, Nam-Trung, Klimenko, Alexander, Zhang, Jun and Yuan, Dan (2024). Ultra-stretchable microfluidic devices for optimizing particle manipulation in viscoelastic fluids. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 16 (45), 61765-61773. doi: 10.1021/acsami.4c15893
2024
Journal Article
High-efficient white blood cell separation from whole blood using cascaded inertial microfluidics
Cha, Haotian, Kang, Xiaoyue, Yuan, Dan, de Villiers, Belinda, Mak, Johnson, Nguyen, Nam-Trung and Zhang, Jun (2024). High-efficient white blood cell separation from whole blood using cascaded inertial microfluidics. Talanta, 284 127200, 127200. doi: 10.1016/j.talanta.2024.127200
2024
Journal Article
Method for lysis and paper-based elution-free DNA extraction with colourimetric isothermal amplification
Lee, Soo Min, Doeven, Egan H., Yuan, Dan and Guijt, Rosanne M. (2024). Method for lysis and paper-based elution-free DNA extraction with colourimetric isothermal amplification. Scientific Reports, 14 (1) 14479. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-59763-4
2024
Journal Article
Abridged solid-phase extraction with alkaline Poly(ethylene) glycol lysis (ASAP) for direct DNA amplification
Lee, Soo Min, Nai, Yi H., Doeven, Egan H., Balakrishnan, Hari Kalathil, Yuan, Dan and Guijt, Rosanne M. (2024). Abridged solid-phase extraction with alkaline Poly(ethylene) glycol lysis (ASAP) for direct DNA amplification. Talanta, 266 (Pt 2) 125006, 1-8. doi: 10.1016/j.talanta.2023.125006
2023
Journal Article
3D printed porous membrane integrated devices to study the chemoattractant induced behavioural response of aquatic organisms
Kalathil Balakrishnan, Hari, Schultz, Aaron G., Lee, Soomin, Alexander, Richard, Dumee, Ludovic, Doeven, Egan H., Yuan, Dan and Guijt, Rosanne Marieke (2023). 3D printed porous membrane integrated devices to study the chemoattractant induced behavioural response of aquatic organisms. Lab on a Chip, 24 (3), 505-516. doi: 10.1039/d3lc00488k
2023
Journal Article
An automated and intelligent microfluidic platform for microalgae detection and monitoring
Zheng, Jiahao, Cole, Tim, Zhang, Yuxin, Yuan, Dan and Tang, Shi-Yang (2023). An automated and intelligent microfluidic platform for microalgae detection and monitoring. Lab On a Chip, 24 (2), 244-253. doi: 10.1039/d3lc00851g
2023
Journal Article
Chemical trends in sample preparation for Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing (NAAT): A review
Lee, Soo Min, Balakrishnan, Hari Kalathil, Doeven, Egan H., Yuan, Dan and Guijt, Rosanne M. (2023). Chemical trends in sample preparation for Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing (NAAT): A review. Biosensors, 13 (11) 980, 1-48. doi: 10.3390/bios13110980
2023
Journal Article
Development of a pumpless acoustofluidic device for rapid food pathogen detection
Nilghaz, Azadeh, Lee, Soo Min, Su, Hongli, Yuan, Dan, Tian, Junfei, Guijt, Rosanne M. and Wang, Xungai (2023). Development of a pumpless acoustofluidic device for rapid food pathogen detection. Analytica Chimica Acta, 1275 341581, 341581. doi: 10.1016/j.aca.2023.341581
2023
Journal Article
A novel microparticle size sorting technology based on sheath flow stable expansion regimes
Zhang, Boran, Zhao, Wenhan, Yuan, Dan, Wang, Tiao and Wu, Wenshuai (2023). A novel microparticle size sorting technology based on sheath flow stable expansion regimes. Physics of Fluids, 35 (5) 052018. doi: 10.1063/5.0152581
2023
Journal Article
Numerical study of viscoelastic microfluidic particle manipulation in a microchannel with asymmetrical expansions
Wang, Tiao, Yuan, Dan, Wan, Wuyi and Zhang, Boran (2023). Numerical study of viscoelastic microfluidic particle manipulation in a microchannel with asymmetrical expansions. Micromachines, 14 (5) 915, 1-15. doi: 10.3390/mi14050915
2023
Journal Article
3D printing functionally graded porous materials for simultaneous fabrication of dense and porous structures in membrane‐integrated fluidic devices
Balakrishnan, Hari Kalathil, Dumée, Ludovic F., Merenda, Andrea, Aubry, Cyril, Yuan, Dan, Doeven, Egan H. and Guijt, Rosanne M. (2023). 3D printing functionally graded porous materials for simultaneous fabrication of dense and porous structures in membrane‐integrated fluidic devices. Small Structures, 4 (5) 2200314, 1-11. doi: 10.1002/sstr.202200314
2023
Journal Article
3D printed integrated nanoporous membranes for electroextraction of DNA
Kalathil Balakrishnan, Hari, Lee, Soo Min, Dumée, Ludovic F., Doeven, Egan H., Alexander, Richard, Yuan, Dan and Guijt, Rosanne M. (2023). 3D printed integrated nanoporous membranes for electroextraction of DNA. Nanoscale, 15 (24), 10371-10382. doi: 10.1039/d2nr07178a
2023
Journal Article
Virtual-freezing fluorescence imaging flow cytometry with 5-aminolevulinic acid stimulation and antibody labeling for detecting all forms of circulating tumor cells
Matsumura, Hiroki, Shen, Larina Tzu-Wei, Isozaki, Akihiro, Mikami, Hideharu, Yuan, Dan, Miura, Taichi, Kondo, Yuto, Mori, Tomoko, Kusumoto, Yoshika, Nishikawa, Masako, Yasumoto, Atsushi, Ueda, Aya, Bando, Hiroko, Hara, Hisato, Liu, Yuhong, Deng, Yunjie, Sonoshita, Masahiro, Yatomi, Yutaka, Goda, Keisuke and Matsusaka, Satoshi (2023). Virtual-freezing fluorescence imaging flow cytometry with 5-aminolevulinic acid stimulation and antibody labeling for detecting all forms of circulating tumor cells. Lab on a Chip, 23 (6), 1561-1575. doi: 10.1039/d2lc00856d
2023
Journal Article
Squeezed state in the hydrodynamic focusing regime for Escherichia coli bacteria detection
Zhao, Wenhan, Shang, Xiaopeng, Zhang, Boran, Yuan, Dan, Nguyen, Binh Thi Thanh, Wu, Wenshuai, Zhang, Jing Bo, Peng, Niancai, Liu, Ai Qun, Duan, Fei and Chin, Lip Ket (2023). Squeezed state in the hydrodynamic focusing regime for Escherichia coli bacteria detection. Lab on a Chip, 23 (23), 5039-5046. doi: 10.1039/d3lc00434a
2022
Journal Article
Length-based separation of Bacillus subtilis bacterial populations by viscoelastic microfluidics
Liu, Ping, Liu, Hangrui, Semenec, Lucie, Yuan, Dan, Yan, Sheng, Cain, Amy K. and Li, Ming (2022). Length-based separation of Bacillus subtilis bacterial populations by viscoelastic microfluidics. Microsystems and Nanoengineering, 8 (1) 7, 1-11. doi: 10.1038/s41378-021-00333-3
2022
Journal Article
Experimental exploration on stable expansion phenomenon of sheath flow in viscous microfluidics
Zhao, Wenhan, Wu, Wenshuai, Yuan, Dan, Zou, Siyuan, Yang, Fan, Zhao, Qianbin, Mehmood, Kashif and Zhang, Boran (2022). Experimental exploration on stable expansion phenomenon of sheath flow in viscous microfluidics. Physics of Fluids, 34 (12) 122002. doi: 10.1063/5.0129764
2022
Journal Article
Erratum to “Perspective - What constitutes a quality analytical paper: Microfluidics and Flow analysis” [Talanta Open, 2021, 100055](S2666831921000254)(10.1016/j.talo.2021.100055)
Lee, Soo Min, Balakrishnan, Hari Kalathil, Yuan, Dan, Nai, Yi Heng and Guijt, Rosanne M. (2022). Erratum to “Perspective - What constitutes a quality analytical paper: Microfluidics and Flow analysis” [Talanta Open, 2021, 100055](S2666831921000254)(10.1016/j.talo.2021.100055). Talanta Open, 5 100090, 100090. doi: 10.1016/j.talo.2022.100090
2022
Journal Article
Multiphysics microfluidics for cell manipulation and separation: A review
Cha, Haotian, Fallahi, Hedieh, Dai, Yuchen, Yuan, Dan, An, Hongjie, Nguyen, Nam-Trung and Zhang, Jun (2022). Multiphysics microfluidics for cell manipulation and separation: A review. Lab on a Chip, 22 (3), 423-444. doi: 10.1039/d1lc00869b
2022
Conference Publication
Portable and pumpless microfluidic device for viscoelastic particle focusing
Yuan, Dan, Nilghaz, Azadeh and Guijt, Rosanne M. (2022). Portable and pumpless microfluidic device for viscoelastic particle focusing. MicroTAS 2022 - 26th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences, Hangzhou, China, 23-27 October 2022. San Diego, CA, United States: Chemical and Biological Microsystems Society.
Funding
Current funding
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Dan Yuan is:
- Available for supervision
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Available projects
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Viscoelastic Microfluidics for Biomedical and Environmental Applications
Project summary: Use forces generated by fluids that are both viscous and elastic to help address challenges in biomedicine and the environment.
Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
Development of object manipulation techniques with viscoelastic fluids toward efficient environmental monitoring
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Alexander Klimenko
Media
Enquiries
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