Z. Hugh Fan Explained

Honorific Prefix:Distinguished Professor
Z. Hugh Fan
Honorific Suffix:FASME, FAAAS
Occupation:Scientist, engineer, academic
Period:1980s—present
Known For:His contribution to the field of microfluidics, particularly for pioneering papers in early 1990s and for advancing the capabilities and accessibility of biomedical diagnostics and environmental health monitoring.
Distinguished Professor
Website:https://mae.ufl.edu/hfan/
Education:
Alma Mater:University of Alberta
Era:1989—present
Discipline:Biomedical Engineering
Sub Discipline:Microfluidics and BioMEMS
Main Interests:Microfluidics, biomedical Microelectromechanical System (BioMEMS), sensors, cancer and medical diagnostics, pathogens and virus detection
Boards:Scientific Reports, Microsystems & Nanoengineering, Biomedical Materials

Z. Hugh Fan is a US-based biomedical engineer, chemist, scientist, inventor, and academic. Hugh Fan is the Steve and Louise Scott Excellence Fellow and Distinguished Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Florida (UF). At UF, he is Director of the Microfluidics and BioMEMS Laboratory,[1] a research lab and part of the Interdisciplinary Microsystems Group (IMG).[2] Hugh Fan is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE),[3] the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).[4] [5] He is known for his pioneering work in microfluidics in the early 1990s,[6] [7] [8] while his research work spans microfluidics, biomedical microelectromechanical systems (BioMEMS), sensors, cancer and medical diagnostics, and pathogen and virus detection. Hugh Fan's work has significantly contributed to the development of lab-on-a-chip technologies and microfluidic devices for various biomedical applications. He has developed microfluidic devices using aptamers, special DNA or RNA sequences, to isolate and study different types of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the blood, offering an alternative to antibody-based methods.[9] In 2018, Hugh Fan and John Lednicky co-led a team at the University of Florida that developed a rapid, cost-effective point-of-care test for the Zika virus.[10] Their work with C. Y. Wu on SARS-CoV-2 (severe-acute-respiratory-syndrome-related coronavirus) in 2020 helped change the opinion on virus transmission route from “droplets” in 2020 to “airborne” in 2021.[11] [12] [13] [14]

Early life and education

Hugh Fan studied at Yangzhou Teachers College where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in chemistry in 1985. From 1985 to 1989, he worked as an Assistant Teacher at Yangzhou Teachers' College. In 1989, he moved to Canada where he pursued his doctoral studies at the University of Alberta and received his Ph.D. in 1994. From 1994 to 1995, he was a post-doctoral fellow at Ames Laboratory.

Career

Hugh Fan worked for Sarnoff Corporation from 1995 to 2000. In 2000, he became Principal Scientist at Aclara Biosciences. In 2003, he joined the University of Florida (UF) as an Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He was tenured in 2008. Hugh Fan became a Full Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in 2013 and held the position until July 2024, when he became a Distinguished Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UF.

Hugh Fan has been a member of the UF Health Cancer Center (since 2005) and a member of the Emerging Pathogens Institute (since 2008). He has been an Affiliate Professor at the Department of Chemistry since 2012 and an Affiliate Professor at the J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering since 2004. He was a Humboldt Visiting Professor at the Fraunhofer Institute of Biomedical Engineering in 2010, and an E.T.S. Walton Fellow at the Biomedical Diagnostics Institute at Dublin City University in 2009.

In 2014, Hugh Fan was named a University of Florida Research Foundation (UFRF) Professor.[15] [16] [17]

Research and inventions

Hugh Fan is known for his pioneering work in microfluidics in early 1990s which is often credited for helping establish microfluidics as a research field and for popularizing the subject in academia, industry and governmental agencies.[18] His research work spans microfluidics, biomedical microelectromechanical systems (BioMEMS), sensors, cancer and medical diagnostics, and pathogen and virus detection. Hugh Fan's work has significantly contributed to the development of lab-on-a-chip technologies and microfluidic devices for various biomedical applications. He has been working on developing microfluidic devices, which are small, chip-like devices used for medical and scientific purposes. Instead of using antibodies to capture circulating tumor cells (CTCs), which are cancer cells found in the blood, he uses special DNA or RNA sequences called aptamers. These aptamers can bind specifically to different types of CTCs. By attaching these aptamers to the channels in his microfluidic devices, he could isolate different kinds of CTCs based on the specific aptamers used. This method offers an alternative to using antibodies for detecting and studying cancer cells.

In 2018, Hugh Fan and John Lednicky co-led a team at the University of Florida that developed a rapid, cost-effective point-of-care test for the Zika virus, which could detect the virus in blood, saliva, and urine specimens within an hour. The innovative device, utilizing isothermal nucleic acid amplification and a paper-based detection unit, aimed to provide accessible and timely diagnostics, especially beneficial for resource-limited settings.

In 2020, John Lednicky, C. Y. Wu, Hugh Fan, and their colleagues confirmed that airborne SARS-CoV-2 (severe-acute-respiratory-syndrome-related coronavirus) viruses are infectious. This became evidence in helping policymakers change their position on the transmission route of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from “droplets” in 2020 to “airborne” in 2021. Their subsequent efforts on detecting SARS-CoV-2 and influenza virus are supported by National Institutes of Health and led by Hugh Fan.[19]

Patents

Selected publications

Journal articles

Books

Awards, honors, and fellowships

Awards

Honors

Fellowships

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Prof. Fan's Homepage . mae.ufl.edu.
  2. Web site: Interdisciplinary Microsystems Group - University of Florida . www.img.ufl.edu . en.
  3. Web site: 2021 AIMBE Fellows - AIMBE . 2024-08-05 . en.
  4. Web site: 2016 AAAS Fellows Honored for Advancing Science to Serve Society American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) . 2024-08-05 . www.aaas.org . en.
  5. Web site: Sarah . Zachrich Jeng . 2016-12-09 . Biosensor Innovator Named Fellow of AAAS . 2024-08-05 . Powering the New Engineer . en-US.
  6. Fan . Zhonghui H. . Harrison . D. Jed. . 1994-01-01 . Micromachining of capillary electrophoresis injectors and separators on glass chips and evaluation of flow at capillary intersections . Analytical Chemistry . en . 66 . 1 . 177–184 . 10.1021/ac00073a029 . 0003-2700.
  7. Harrison . D. Jed. . Manz . Andreas. . Fan . Zhonghui. . Luedi . Hans. . Widmer . H. Michael. . 1992-09-01 . Capillary electrophoresis and sample injection systems integrated on a planar glass chip . Analytical Chemistry . en . 64 . 17 . 1926–1932 . 10.1021/ac00041a030 . 0003-2700.
  8. Harrison . D. Jed . Fluri . Karl . Seiler . Kurt . Fan . Zhonghui . Effenhauser . Carlo S. . Manz . Andreas . 1993-08-13 . Micromachining a Miniaturized Capillary Electrophoresis-Based Chemical Analysis System on a Chip . Science . en . 261 . 5123 . 895–897 . 1993Sci...261..895J . 10.1126/science.261.5123.895 . 0036-8075 . 17783736.
  9. Web site: Microfluidic Devices Capture Tumor Cells . 2024-08-01 . Chemical & Engineering News . en . Most of the new microfluidic devices rely on antibodies to capture or fluorescently label CTCs. But other options are available. Z. Hugh Fan, a professor at the University of Florida, uses ligand-binding nucleic acid sequences called aptamers, which he attaches to the channels in a microfluidic device (Anal. Chem., DOI: 10.1021/ac3005633). Fan isolates different types of CTCs by using aptamers with different specificities..
  10. Web site: Researchers develop rapid, inexpensive test for Zika . 2024-08-01 . news.ufl.edu . en . Z. Hugh Fan, Ph.D., a professor and George N. Sandor Faculty Fellow at the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering’s department of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and John Lednicky, Ph.D., a research professor at the College of Public Health and Health Professions’ department of environmental and global health, led a team that developed a miniaturized device for analysis of the virus in blood, saliva, and urine specimens. Using the device, they demonstrated the reproducible detection of Zika virus..
  11. Lednicky . John A. . Lauzardo . Michael . Fan . Z. Hugh . Jutla . Antarpreet . Tilly . Trevor B. . Gangwar . Mayank . Usmani . Moiz . Shankar . Sripriya Nannu . Mohamed . Karim . Eiguren-Fernandez . Arantza . Stephenson . Caroline J. . Alam . Md. Mahbubul . Elbadry . Maha A. . Loeb . Julia C. . Subramaniam . Kuttichantran . November 2020 . Viable SARS-CoV-2 in the air of a hospital room with COVID-19 patients . International Journal of Infectious Diseases . en . 100 . 476–482 . 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.09.025 . 7493737 . 32949774.
  12. Web site: Thomas . Naomi . 2020-09-20 . Updated CDC guidance acknowledges coronavirus can spread through the air . 2024-08-05 . CNN . en . He described a pre-print paper released in August – in which scientists described culturing viable virus from air in a hospital – as “an important addition to the reports of large outbreaks that were clearly a result of transmission by aerosols that travel more than 6 feet.”.
  13. Lewis . Dyani . 2021-01-29 . COVID-19 rarely spreads through surfaces. So why are we still deep cleaning? . Nature . en . 590 . 7844 . 26–28 . 2021Natur.590...26L . 10.1038/d41586-021-00251-4 . 33514939 . Indeed, researchers have struggled to isolate viable virus from any environmental samples, not just fomites. In the only study that has succeeded, researchers grew virus particles from hospital air samples collected at least 2 metres from a person with COVID-19..
  14. Web site: Watson,Anayanci . 2021-12-17 . Clinicians May Now be Able to Tell COVID-19 from Seasonal Flu with Fast Turnaround Thanks to UF Research . 2024-08-05 . Powering the New Engineer . en-US.
  15. Web site: Z. Hugh Fan, Ph.D. – UFRF Professors . en-US.
  16. Web site: 2014 – UFRF Professors . en-US.
  17. Web site: Writer . Staff . Achievers: UF Research Foundation honors 33 for distinguished work . Gainesville Sun . en-US . College of Engineering: Z. Hugh Fan, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering; Mark E. Orazem, professor of chemical engineering; and Jose C. Principe, distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering.
  18. Fan . Z. Hugh . Harrison . D.Jed . 2023 . Celebrating the 30th anniversary of a pioneering microfluidics paper . Lab on a Chip . en . 23 . 19 . 4157–4159 . 10.1039/D3LC90076B. 37674417 . 10530399 . September 26, 2024 .
  19. Web site: RePORT ⟩ RePORTER . 2024-08-05 . reporter.nih.gov.
  20. Web site: RePORT ⟩ RePORTER . 2024-08-05 . reporter.nih.gov.
  21. Web site: Explore the Humboldt Network . 2024-08-05 . www.humboldt-foundation.de . en.

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