Research and Projects

Research Topics

My group aims to correlate the microstructure of biological materials (including, DNAs, cytoskeletons, organelles, cells and tissues) with their functions and responses by employing soft matter technologies, bio-microfluidics and  chemical engineering principles (see below).

My research group is composed of three primary and interwoven themes (as elaborated below):

  1. Rheology of living soft matter and (bio)polymers
  2. Nano-engineering of soft materials
  3. Transport in living systems

We will employ cutting-edge micro/nano-fluidic technologies and advanced biophysical tools to manipulate and control the biopolymers and cellular systems for both fundamental biophysical studies and applications, such as non-viral gene therapy, biosensing and cancer cell invasion.

First, we aim understand the flow and rheology of living systems at microscopic level using integrated microfluidic platforms with confocal imaging systems.  Next, we will use biopolymers (such as DNA) as a nano-template to produce biochips for drug/gene delivery, bio-sensing and medical diagnostic applications. Finally, we employ bio-microfluidic devices for cell manipulation, invasion and isolation studies for a wide variety of biomedical applications from non-viral gene therapy to liquid biopsy and cancer treatment.

Given the multidisciplinary nature of our proposed research, I will actively seek collaborations with experimental/theoretical scientists in biology, chemistry, biophysics, and chemical engineering. Potential collaborators are encouraged to directly contact me at P.E.Boukany@tudelft.nl

Student projects

  • Transport in living systems
  • Flow and deformation of cancer cells
  • Cell migration and tumor-on-a-chip
  • Biomechanics of cancer spheroids
  • Non-viral gene delivery on a chip

For information, please contact Pouyan Boukany or PhD students/postdocs in the Boukany group directly.