microbiomechanics

Welcome to the Tang Lab at University of California, Irvine

Our Research

About Us

The Microbiomechanics Laboratory aims at studying biological systems at the micro- and nano-scales with mechanically-derived modalities. We develop devices and platforms that enable both in-vitro and in-vivo studies of the mechanical aspects in physiological activities involving cells, tissues, and organs. They would be suitable for interfacing and interrogating the mechanical phenomena of interest within the targeted physiological activities at the length-scales that are beyond the reach of traditional biomedical instrumentations. Our vision is that these devices and platforms will:

1. enable new research efforts to understand the significance of biomechanics at the most basic unit of life -the cell.

2. offer clinically-relevant applications that require accurate real-time data on the stress strain distributions in the organs or physiological systems for investigation and diagnosis of the mechanical implications of health and diseases within the organs.

3. leverage the understanding in physiological phenomena researched with these tools to develop prosthetic devices to restore both sensory and motor functions that are mechanical in nature within the body.

µBML News

June 10, 2022
Big congratulations to our 17 UROP Fellows awarded during this latest round of UROP! Particularly worthy of note is that 6 are first-time Fellows! They are:

Muniza Ahmed – 1st time

Anthony Agnew – 2nd time, also SURP Fellow

Joanne Chin - 5th time

Hannah Chung - 1st time

Zejun Feng - 1st time, also SURP Fellow

Anmol Gill – 2nd time

Ethan Higgins – 3rd time

George Huang – 3rd time

Abdon Mai – 2nd time

Noah Ngan – 2nd time

Spencer Sih – 3rd time

Jasmien Sihota - 7th time

Ethan Smiggs - 4th time

Rachel Soo - 1st time

Donna Tran - 1st time

Michael Uchi - 1st time

Noah Wang – 3rd time

May 31, 2022
Congratulations to Dr. Yuntian Xue for successfully defending her thesis!
May 27, 2022
Congratulations to Dr. Joanne Ly for successfully defending her thesis!
May 23, 2022
Big congratulations to the Pedi~Sync team for winning the NSF STTR Award! This is a synergistic collaboration with Dr. Caryn Bradley and her company to develop a technology to improve preterm infant care in the NICU. The grant aims at pushing the concept towards clinical adaptation.
March 8, 2022
Congratulations to Dr. Ruiyi Chen for successfully defending his thesis!
December 21, 2021
Big congratulations to our 26 UROP Fellows awarded during this latest round of UROP! Particularly worthy of note is that 7 are first-time Fellows! They are:

Anthony Agnew - 1st time

Rucha Bhise - 6th time

Kaylee Chew - 2nd time

Joanne Chin - 4th time

Jasmine Dang - 2nd time

Jeremiah Fong - 5th time

Anmol Gill - 1st time

Ethan Higgins - 2nd time

Jared Kwong - 2nd time

Christopher Lee - 1st time

Nicolas Lee - 2nd time

Abdon Mai - 1st time

Cameron Ng - 1st time

Noah Ngan - 1st time

Kaushal Patel - 1st time

Alon Pavlov - 6th time

Mukta Phadnis - 3rd time

David Pham - 2nd time

Spencer Sih - 2nd time

Jasmien Sihota - 6th time

Ethan Smiggs - 4th time

Julia Vo - 2nd time

Emily Wagner - 2nd time

Andrew Wan - 2nd time

Noah Wang - 2nd time

George Xiao - 2nd time

November 10, 2021
Congratulations to Joanne Ly for receiving the 2021 Second Year Rose Hills Foundation Fellowship Award!
June 13, 2021
Big congratulations to our UROP Fellows awarded during this latest round of UROP! Particularly worthy of note is that 14 out of the total 22 are first-time Fellows! They are:

Rucha Bhise - 5th time

Kaylee Chew - 1st time (also SURP Fellow 2021)

Joanne Chin - 3rd time

Jasmine Dang - 1st time

Jeremiah Fong - 4th time

Ethan Higgins - 1st time (also SURP Fellow 2021)

Jared Kwong - 1st time

Nicolas Lee - 1st time

Alon Pavlov - 5th time

Mukta Phadnis - 2nd time

David Pham - 1st time (also SURP Fellow 2021)

Lindsey Shak - 1st time

Spencer Sih - 1st time

Jasmien Sihota - 5th time

Ethan Smiggs - 4th time

Rahul Sreedasyam - 5th time (also SURP Fellow 2021)

Julia Vo - 1st time (also SURP Fellow 2021)

Emily Wagner - 1st time

Andrew Wan - 1st time (also SURP Fellow 2021)

Jasmine Wang - 1st time

Noah Wang - 1st time

George Xiao - 1st time

I'd also like to congratulate the seniors who have just graduated. These veteran UROP fellows have been instrumental in mentoring and helping the current crops of UROP fellows:

Chrissie Alexander - 7-time UROP Fellow

Brittanie Chu - 7-time UROP Fellow

Euressa Cosmiano - 3-time UROP Fellow

Julian Drake - 4-time UROP Fellow

Madhumita Kannan - 7-time UROP Fellow

Mei Jin - 4-time UROP Fellow

Samuel Lassers - 7-time UROP Fellow

Cameron Lee - 4-time UROP Fellow

Niam Mohseni - 4-time UROP Fellow

Megan Nguyen - 2-time UROP Fellow

Phoebe Tran - 3-time UROP Fellow

Josh Wang - 7-time UROP Fellow

Vienna Wu - 6-time UROP Fellow

Ryan Yoshimoto - 3-time UROP Fellow

Ethan Smiggs - 4th time UROP Fellow

Congratulations!
March 16, 2021
Congratulations to Joanne Ly, who passed the Qualifying Exam and is now advanced to PhD Candidacy!
February 1, 2021
Big congratulations to our UROP Fellows awarded during the latest round of UROP! They are:

Chrissie Alexander - 6th time

Rucha Bhise - 4th time

Joanne Chin - 2nd time

Brittanie Chu - 7th time

Euressa Cosmiano - 3rd time

Jeremiah Fong - 3rd time

Madhumita Kannan - 7th time

Mei Jin - 4th time

Samuel Lassers - 7th time

Cameron Lee - 4th time

Niam Mohseni - 4th time

Megan Nguyen - 2nd time

Alon Pavlov - 4th time

Mukta Phadnis - 1st time

Jasmien Sihota - 4th time

Ethan Smiggs - 4th time

Rahul Sreedasyam - 4th time

Josh Wang - 7th time

Vienna Wu - 6th time

Ryan Yoshimoto - 3rd time

Congratulations!
December 8, 2020
Congratulations to Yuntian Xue, who passed the Qualifying Exam and is now advanced to PhD Candidacy!
July 5, 2020
Congratulations the 2020 UROP and SURP Fellows in our lab:

Chrissie Alexander - 5th time

Rucha Bhise - 3rd time

Joanne Chin - 1st time

Brittanie Chu - 6th time, also 3rd time SURP/E-SURP

Euressa Cosmiano - 2nd time

Julian Drake - 4th time

Jeremiah Fong - 2nd time

Madhumita Kannan - 6th time

Mei Jin - 3rd time

Samuel Lassers - 6th time, also 2nd time SURP

Cameron Lee - 3rd time

Niam Mohseni - 3rd time

Megan Nguyen - 1st time

Alon Pavlov - 3rd time

Jasmien Sihota - 3rd time

Ethan Smiggs - 3rd time

Rahul Sreedasyam - 3rd time

Phoebe Tran - 3rd time

Brandon Vu - 2nd time

Josh Wang - 6th time

Vienna Wu - 5th time

Ryan Yoshimoto - 2nd time

October 2020
Big congratulations to Joanne Ly, who is one of the 5 UCI graduate students awarded the Rose Hills Foundation Graduate Fellowship!
January 12, 2020
Congratulations the 2019 UROP Fellows in our lab:

Chrissie Alexander - 4th time

Rucha Bhise - 2nd time

Brittanie Chu - 5th time

Euressa Cosmiano - 1st time

Salonee Darbari - 4th time

Julian Drake - 3rd time

Edward Fahman - 2nd time

Jeremiah Fong - 1st time

Harris Fu - 1st time

Madhumita Kannan - 5th time

Mei Jin - 2nd time

Samuel Lassers - 5th time

Wendy Lei - 3rd time

Cameron Lee - 2nd time

Xinyi Liu - 2nd time

Huining Liu - 2nd time

Zhi (Roger) Luo - 2nd time

Niam Mohseni - 2nd time

Alon Pavlov - 2nd time

Jasmien Sihota - 2nd time

Ethan Smiggs - 2nd time

Rahul Sreedasyam - 2nd time

Phoebe Tran - 2nd time

Philip Trembath - 2nd time

Brandon Vu - 1st time

Josh Wang - 5th time

Vienna Wu - 4th time

Yuming Ye - 1st time

Sabrina Yip - 5th time

Ryan Yoshimoto - 1st time

I also want to thank the tremendous efforts of the graduate students who manage and guide the undergrad students in winning their awards: Will Agnew, Ruiyi Chen, Joanne Ly, Seo Shim, and Yuntian Xue!
June 21, 2019
The latest 2019 Spring UROP, 2019 SURP, and 2019 E-SURP Fellows have just been announced:

Chrissie Alexander – 3rd time

Ashley Avila – 2nd time

Rucha Bhise - 1st time

Lillian Chang – 2nd time

Brittanie Chu – 4th time

Salonee Darbari – 3rd time

Julian Drake – 2nd time

Edward D. Fahman - 1st time

Sally Huynh - 1st time

Mei Jin - 1st time

Madhumita Kannan - 4th time

Samuel Lassers – 4th time

Cameron Lee - 1st time

Wendy Lei – 2nd time

Huining Liu - 1st time

Zhi Luo - 1st time

Niam Mohseni - 1st time

Alon Pavlov - 1st time

Jasmien K. Sihota - 1st time

Ethan S. Smiggs - 1st time

Rahul Sreedasyam - 1st time

Phoebe M. Tran - 1st time

Philip C. Trembath - 1st time

Josh Wang – 4th time

Vienna Wu – 3rd time

Sabrina Yip – 4th time

April 20, 2019
Spring 2019 quarterly social at Irvine Lanes!
March 29, 2019
The Microbiomechanics Laboratory is forging a research collaboration with the Vietnam National Geriatric Hospital, the Irvine Clinical Research, and the OC Alzheimer to address the educational and intervention needs for Vietnamese patients with Alzheimer disease. Together with Dr. Dung Trinh of the Irvine Clinical Research, Dr. Tang and Joanne visited the hospital in Hanoi to discuss the details and plans for collaborative tasks.
March 1, 2019
Prof. Tang was honored with the Professor of the Year Award in Biomedical Engineering during 46th Annual Award Banquet on March 1, 2019 hosted by the Engineering Student Council. Congratulations!
January 26, 2019
The latest 2018 Spring UROP, 2018 SURP, and 2018 E-SURP Fellows have just been announced:

Chrissie Alexander - 2nd time

Rifat Amin - 1st time

Ashley Avila - 1st time

Lillian Chang - 1st time

Steven Chang - 2nd time

Brittanie Chu - 3rd time

Salonee Darbari - 2nd time

Julian Drake - 1st time

Madhumita Kannan - 3rd time

Samuel Lassers - 3rd time

Wendy Lei - 1st time

Zach Siu - 3rd time

Jennifer Tran - 2nd time

Josh Wang - 3rd time

Vienna Wu - 2nd time

Sabrina Yip - 3rd time

Big congratulations!

August 24-26, 2018
Carina Lee won the Best Oral Presentation Paper Award at the 2018 International Conference on Nano Science & Technology (ICNST 2018) in Sapporo, Japan.
June 19, 2018
The latest 2018 Spring UROP, 2018 SURP, and 2018 E-SURP Fellows have just been announced:

Chrissie Alexander - 1st time

Brittanie Chu - 2nd time, including 2017 Fall

Klaudia Cymerska - 1st time

Salonee Darbari - 1st time

Madhumita Kannan - 2nd time, including 2017 Fall

Samuel Lassers - 1st time

Wendy Lei - 1st time

Jonathan Lim - 1st time

Zach Siu - 2nd time, including 2017 Fall

Jennifer Tran - 1st time

Josh Wang - 2nd time, including 2017 Fall

Kaylie Wong - 2nd time, including 2017 Fall

Vienna Wu - 1st time

Sabrina Yip - 2nd time, including 2017 Fall

Big congratulations!

April 13, 2018
We received funding from a private donor to support our research on neuroengineering for clinical applications. Our heart-felt appreciation to the donor who sees the importance of researching engineering approaches to save lives!
January 17, 2018
The latest 2017 Fall UROP Fellows have just been announced:

William Agnew - 6th time, including 2017 Spring, 2016 Fall, 2015 Fall, 2015 SURP and 2015 E-SURP

Brittanie Chu - 1st time

Brandon Jeong - 4th time, including 2017 SURP, 2017 Spring, and 2016 Fall

Madhumita Kannan - 1st time

Samuel Lassers - 1st time

Zach Siu - 1st time

Reese Tobaben - 1st time

Josh Wang - 1st time

Kaylie Wong - 1st time

Sabrina Yip - 1st time

Big congratulations!
January 20, 2017
William Agnew (5th time, including SURP Fellow and E-SURP Fellow 2015),

Hishaam Ali (2nd time),

Christopher Foskett (2nd time),

John Gozal (1st time),

Hanze Hu (1st time),

Brandon Jeong (1st time),

William Kim (2nd time),

Jasmine Llave (1st time),

Zion Lee (3rd time, including E-SURP Fellow 2016),

Guan Yu Liu (1st time),

Selena Saromo (1st time), and

Josh Yeung (1st time)

were appointed Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) Fellows for the 2016-2017 academic year druing the Fall Call for Proposals.
December 13, 2016
Prof. William C. Tang was in the news, interviewed and quoted by The Atlantic in the article "Bulletproofing America."
September 30, 2016
Prof. William C. Tang was appointed Hai-Tian Scholar (海天学者) by the Dalian University of Technology (大连理工大学) for a period of three years. Under the program, Prof. Tang is funded to pursue collaborative research with DUT on the subject of Alzheimer's disease.
June 15, 2016
Zion Lee was appointed Edwards Lifesciences Summer Undergraduate Research Program (E-SURP) Fellow.
January 13, 2016
William Agnew (4th time, including SURP Fellow and E-SURP Fellow 2015), Tasnim Ahmed (6th time, including SURP Fellow 2015), Hishaam Ali (1st time), Rui Cao (2nd time), Jullyanne Corpuz (1st time), Christopher Foskett (1st time), Bita Kianian (2nd time), William Kim (1st time), Zion Lee (1st time), Sadaf Mirnia (1st time), Taylor Shen (1st time), Cyril Soliman (3rd time) were appointed Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) Fellows for the 2015-2016 academic year druing the Fall Call for Proposals.
June 15, 2015
William Agnew (1st time, also SURP Fellow and E-SURP Fellow 2015), Tasnim Ahmed (4th time, also SURP Fellow 2015), Rui Cao (1st time), Claudia Cetrola (4th time), Ci Ren (2nd time), and Cyril Soliman (2nd time) were appointed Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) Fellows for the 2015-2016 academic year druing the Spring Call for Proposals.
January 9, 2015
Tasnim Ahmed (3rd time), Lydia Ameri (4th time), Claudia Cetrola (3rd time), Anthony Han (3rd time), Emily Kha (3rd time), Bita Kianian (1st time), Nick Look (1st time), Ci Ren (1st time), Cyril Soliman (1st time) and Yijiao Wang (4th time) were appointed Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) Fellows for the 2014-2015 academic year during the Fall Call for Proposals.
June 30, 2014
Tasnim Ahmed, Lydia Ameri, Claudia Cetrola, Gary Chang, Anthony Han, Emily Kha, and Yijiao Wang were appointed Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) Fellows for the 2014-2015 academic year during the Spring Call for Proposals.
May 28, 2014
Claudia Cetrola was appointed Edwards Lifesciences Summer Undergraduate Research Program (E-SURP) Fellow for Summer 2014.
January 20, 2014
Tasnim Ahmed, Lydia Ameri, Gary Chang, Anthony Han, Emily Kha, Michael Lum, Indrani Mikkilineni, Kishan Patel, Aswini Ponnaluri, and Yijiao Wang were appointed the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) Fellows for the 2013-2014 academic year.
January 14, 2014
Prof. William C. Tang and his ex-student, Dr. Yu-Hsiang Hsu, were awarded the U.S. Patent on their malaria detection invention: W. C. Tang and Y.-H. Hsu, “Microfluidic devices and methods for malaria detection,” U.S. Patent #8,628,972, January 14, 2014.
January 15, 2013
Lydia Ameri, Gary Chang, Hanna Chang, Michael Lum, Indrani Mikkilineni, Shravya Nagurla, Andrea Navarro, Kishan Patel, Aswini Ponnaluri, Abdullah Siddiqui, Tracey Tien, and Yijiao Wang were appointed the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) Fellows for the 2012-2013 academic year.
November 5, 2012
Prof. William C. Tang was awarded $1.65m Phase II of the Pricision Rate-Integrating Micro Gyroscope program from DARPA to continue his collaborative research with the MicroSystems Laboratory.
August 2, 2011
Prof. William C. Tang and his students were awarded the U.S. Patent on their neural probe invention: W. C. Tang, J. Wu, and R. Hainley, “High density micromachined electrode arrays useable for auditory nerve implants and related methods,” U.S. Patent #7,991,475, August 2, 2011.
July 20, 2011
Prof. William C. Tang in collaboration with Dr. Alex Trusov (Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering) and Dr. Karl Yee (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) was awarded a grant of over $2.7m by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Prof. Tang as the Principal Investigator will lead this three-year effort to pursue research on Precision Rate-Integrating Micro Gyroscope.
June 24, 2011
Michael Lum, Shravya Nagurla, Andrea Navarro, and Tracey Tien were appointed the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) Fellows for the 2011-2012 academic year.
May 24, 2011
Both Andrea Navarro and Tracey Tien were appointed the Edwards Lifesciences Summer Undergraduate Research Program (E-SURP) Fellows for their poroposal on microplatforms for studying the biomechanics of cardiomyocytes.
January 1, 2011
Prof. William C. Tang was re-appointed as the Associate Dean for Research for the Henry Samueli School of Engineering. At the same time, he has stepped down from the position of Associate Chair for Undergraduate Education for the Biomedical Engineering Department. Details of his Associate Dean appointment can be found at: http://www.eng.uci.edu/node/1424
September 21, 2010
Prof. William C. Tang was awarded the 2010 Fariborz Maseeh Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award during the Annual Dinner and Awards Banquet of the Henry Samueli School of Engineering.
July 1, 2010
Prof. William C. Tang has completed his duties both as Associate Dean for Research for the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Acting Chair for the Department of Biomedical Engineering. He now takes on the responsibilities of the Associate Chair for Undergraduate Education for the Department.
July 1, 2009
Prof. William C. Tang has assumed the additional role of acting chair for the Department of Biomedical Engineering
March 5, 2008
Prof. William C. Tang has been appointed as the first Associate Dean for Research for the Henry Samueli School of Engineering. His appointment will begin at the start of spring quarter, 2008.
September 8, 2006
The Orange County Chapter of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology is officially established. Dr. William C. Tang is the founding Chairman of the Chapter.
May 13, 2006
Dr. William C. Tang was given the 2006 Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research "to recognize the meritorious contributions in support of undergraduate research." "
March 2006
Dr. William C. Tang was elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering for "Significant contribution in the field of BioMEMS and Nano-scale technologies"

Completed Projects