Weihua Guan
Indiana University, IN·Biomedical Engineering·Early-career
Most genetic tests for infections, such as tests for viral RNA or bacterial DNA, still need central laboratories with optical readers, fluorescent dyes or gel analysis. The lab's projects aim to move this kind of nucleic acid testing to clinics and homes with small, simple, electronic devices.
- Fields
Biomedical Engineering
Engineering
- Topics
solid-state nanopore
nanopore sensing
nucleic acid testing
- Grants
- 3 known grants, through Apr 2029
What they work on
- Develop a single-tube multiplex recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) assay that copies several respiratory pathogen targets at once with balanced amplification and minimal cross-reactivity.
- Build a nanopore–machine learning engine that extracts current-signal features from single DNA molecules passing through solid-state nanopores and classifies amplified targets across pores and voltages.
- Integrate RPA and nanopore classification into the eMAP electronic workflow, and benchmark it against gel analysis through blinded zero-shot testing for accuracy, sensitivity and reproducibility.
- Create a disposable microfluidic chip and optimized RT-LAMP assay that separate plasma, extract HIV-1 RNA and detect it down to 1,000 copies/ml from 100 µl of fingerprick blood.
- Integrate a quantitative USB-sized analyzer with software, validate it on spiked blood, then compare its results with standard lab tests and assess usability among HIV patients at Penn State Hershey.
- Address barriers to point-of-care solid-state nanopore counting of amplified nucleic acids, studying sensing kinetics, reproducible pore fabrication, cartridge and system integration, and validation.
More about the research
A central tool is the solid-state nanopore. This is a tiny hole in a thin membrane. Molecules passing through it briefly change an electric current, so the device can count and sort DNA molecules one at a time.
Why it matters
Simple electronic tests could bring accurate genetic diagnosis of respiratory infections out of central labs and into clinics and other point-of-need settings. A fingerprick HIV viral load self-test could let people on treatment check at home whether therapy is failing. This could improve their health and help prevent HIV transmission. The same platforms could also serve food safety and homeland security testing.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Full Electronic Multiplexed Nucleic Acid Detection via Machine Learning Enhanced Solid-State Nanopore Sensing
NSF · May 2026 – Apr 2029
CAREER: Amplification-Coupled Solid-State Nanopore Digital Counting based a Versatile Platform for Point-of-Care Nucleic Acid Testing
NSF · Jan 2025 – May 2027
Home Fingerprick Blood-Based HIV Self-Test For Quantitative Monitoring Of Viral Rebound
NIH · Jun 2025 – Aug 2026
Closest labs
Waseem Asghar
Florida Atlantic University, FL·Biomedical Engineering
Develop a disposable microchip that selectively detects HIV-1 directly from whole blood samples, rather than detecting antibodies against the virus.
Brian T. Cunningham
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, IL·Biomedical Engineering
Fabricate assemblies of metal nanoparticles and nanodiamonds, diamond particles with light-emitting atomic defects, and couple them to photonic crystals that amplify both excitation and emission for single-molecule counting.
MinJun Kim
Southern Methodist University, TX·Biomedical Engineering
Characterize how single adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsids filled with single-stranded DNA, double-stranded DNA, or nothing deform as voltage pushes them through solid-state nanopores, with automated recapture for repeated measurements.
The school
Indiana University: 21 labs on PI Pages, $897M a year on research, 438 research doctorates a year.
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