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
2013
Journal Article
Research and experiment on higher-order resonance characteristic of dynamic AFM cantilever
Huang, Qiangxian, Yuan, Dan, You, Huanjie, Zhao, Yang and Cheng, Zhenying (2013). Research and experiment on higher-order resonance characteristic of dynamic AFM cantilever. Yi Qi Yi Biao Xue Bao/Chinese Journal of Scientific Instrument, 34 (12), 2647-2652.
2012
Journal Article
Calibration and uncertainty estimation of one-dimensional reference grating using a metrological atomic force microscope
Huang, Qiangxian, Yuan, Dan and You, Huanjie (2012). Calibration and uncertainty estimation of one-dimensional reference grating using a metrological atomic force microscope. Zhongguo Jixie Gongcheng/China Mechanical Engineering, 23 (5), 531-536. doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1004-132X.2012.05.005
Funding
Current funding
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Dan Yuan is:
- Available for supervision
Looking for a supervisor? Read our advice on how to choose a supervisor.
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
Viscoelastic Microfluidics for Biomedical and Environmental Applications
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Matthew Dargusch, Dr Heather Shewan
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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
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Doctor Philosophy
Deciphering the Mechanisms of Particle Manipulation Using Viscoelastic Microfluidics
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Zhongwei Chen
Media
Enquiries
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