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Mar. 22: "Microtechnology and Deep Learning for Neurogenetics"
Date: Wednesday, March 22, 2023
 
Time: 9:30-10:30AM
 
Location: Health Science Technology Building (HST), Forum Room 101
 
This event features Hang Lu, as the Humphrey Distinguished Lecturer, who will talk about "Microtechnology and Deep Learning for Neurogenetics", as part of the Lehigh University Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering's Spring 2023 Colloquium Seminar Series.

Abstract

My lab is interested in engineering machine learning tools and micro systems to address questions in systems neuroscience, developmental biology, and cell biology that are difficult to answer with conventional techniques. Microfluidics provide the appropriate length scale for investigating molecules, cells, and small organisms; moreover, one can also take advantage of unique phenomena associated with small-scale flow and field effects, as well as unprecedented parallelization and automation to gather quantitative and large-scale data about complex biological systems. In parallel, ML technologies have now vastly expanded the capabilities for scientific inquiry, both in data processing and data interpretation. 
 
We are particularly interested in the questions of how the brain is assembled during development (and changes during aging) and information is processed by brain circuits. We work with a powerful genetic system - the free-living soil nematode C. elegans. In this talk, I will introduce powerful mathematical and physics-based tools to accelerate the biological understanding. I will talk about recent developments in discrete microfluidic systems exploiting multiphase and dynamical behavior of the fluids and microswimmers (i.e. C. elegans) (Aubry, Small, 2022; Sun, Adv Healthcare Mat’l, 2021). I will also talk about a powerful graph-theory-based framework to build probabilistic models of brain atlases (Chaudhary, eLife, 2021), as well as a deep-learning tool to denoise calcium activities in the brain (Chaudhary, NComm, 2022). These machine-learning approaches greatly reduce bias, enable automated and robust cell identification and signal extraction, and will enable a variety of applications including gene-expression analysis, whole-brain imaging, and connectomics.

About the Speaker

Hang Lu is the C. J. “Pete” Silas Chair and Professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and the Director of the Interdisciplinary Bioengineering Program at Georgia Tech.  She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1998 with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering.  She obtained her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in 2003 from MIT.  Between 2003 and 2005, she was a postdoc at UCSF and the Rockefeller University in neuroscience.  She has been an assistant professor (2005-2010), associate professor (2010-2013), and professor (2013-present) of chemical & biomolecular engineering at Georgia Tech. Her current research interests are in microfluidics, data science, automation, quantitative imaging, and their applications in neurobiology, cell biology, cancer, and biotechnology.  Her award and honors include the Pioneer of Miniaturization Lectureship, the ACS Analytical Chemistry Young Innovator Award, a National Science Foundation CAREER award, an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship, a DuPont Young Professor Award, a DARPA Young Faculty Award, Council of Systems Biology in Boston (CSB2) Prize in Systems Biology, Georgia Tech Junior Faculty Teaching Excellence Award, and Georgia Tech Outstanding PhD Thesis Advisor Award. She was also named an MIT Technology Review TR35 top innovator, and invited to give the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Van Ness Award Lectures in 2011, the Saville Lecture at Princeton in 2013.  She is an elected fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), of Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), and of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). She is currently the associate director of the Southeast Center for Mathematics and Biology (SCMB) at Georgia Tech, supported by NSF and Simons Foundation.  Her lab’s work has been/is supported by funding from US NSF, NIH, private foundations, and others.

Arthur E. Humphrey

Born in 1927 - Moscow, Idaho. He attended the University of Idaho, MIT, and Columbia University where he received a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering with a specialty in Biochemical Engineering in 1953. He taught Biochemical Engineering at the University of Pen.nsylvania while serving as the Chemical Engineering Department Chair for 10 years and as Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science for 8 years. In 1980 Dr. Humphrey went to Lehigh University where he served 6 years as Provost and Academic Vice President plus chair of the Biotechnology Institute. In 1986 he was named the Diamond Professor of Biochemical Engineering . He retired from Lehigh in 1992. Beginning in 1992 he served as a contract professor, chairing the Biotechnology Institute and teaching a course in Biochemical Engineering at Penn State University retiring for a second time in 1997. Dr. Humphrey was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1973. He served as President of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 1990/91. He held Fulbright Professorships in Australia and Japan. He gave lectures on Biotechnology in 31 countries. He was appointed by President Nixon as Chair of the Industrial Microbiology Joint Committee to the USSR under Détente. He received the John Fritz Gold Medal from the Associated Engineering Societies as the Outstanding Engineer in 1997. He also received the University of Pennsylvania Gold Medal in 1988 for distinguished service to Society, and the Asian Biotechnology Gold Medal for distinguished service to Biotechnology in 1991. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Dr. Humphrey was named one of the most 100 distinguished Chemical Engineers of the modern era. He was awarded three honorary doctorates, one from Lehigh in 1993. He has co-authored three books on Biochemical Engineering, published more than 250 technical papers and served as the research advisor for 27 Ph.D. students. He has received numerous awards from the AIChE, American Chemical Society, and the Society for Industrial Microbiology, including the Annual AIChE Lecture-ship in 1976. He currently resides with his wife of 72 years, at Life Care Community in Scarborough, Maine.

Department/Program: 
Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
College of Engineering

Cecil J. "Pete" Silas Chair of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
Director of the Interdisciplinary Bioengineering Program
Georgia Tech