This position seeks a Post Doctoral Associate to develop a microfluidics single cell ‘smart’ electroporation system. This system consists of a microfluidic device that automatically detects the entrance of an individual cell into an electroporation zone, and subsequently applies a user-defined electroporation pulse to the cell in transit. Cell membrane impedance is continuously monitored, and both optical and electrical measurements are conducted before and immediately after pulse application. Cells are assayed for viability, delivery of small molecules, nucleic acids, etc. The system will also implement a feedback control algorithm with determined electrical thresholds to module the pulse parameters required by a single cell within the system. A successful candidate will characterize the performance of the system for various cell types (especially hard to transfect primary human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs), and lymphoblastoid cells (LCLs)) and delivery vectors for iPSC generation, CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, CAR T Cell generation and other immune-editing vectors, and compare the microfluidics system to current standard EP systems. You will also begin to scale up the throughput of the microfluidic system to increase cell processing rates. These studies will therefore provide the first stepping stones towards future product development for a ‘smart’ electroporation system. This is an ongoing collaborative project with multiple faculty at Rutgers and an industrial sponsor. The candidate must engage with other personnel on the project and provide guidance and mentoring to undergraduate and graduate students. It is expected that the work will yield several high impact academic publications and presentations at national/international conferences.
Position Status Posting Number 19FA2219 Posting Open Date 10/09/2019 Posting Close Date