NanoBioTech 2026

Dr. Azahar Ali

Title: From Nanofabrication to Integrated Health Systems: Reimagining Biosensing Beyond the Lab

Dr. Azahar Ali is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the School of Animal Sciences at Virginia Tech, where he leads research in biosensor engineering with a focus on precision animal farming and integrated health monitoring. He holds affiliate faculty appointments in Biological Systems Engineering and is affiliated with the Center for Advanced Innovation in Agriculture and the Center for Emerging Zoonotic and Arthropod-Borne Pathogens (CeZAP) at Virginia Tech.

Dr. Ali’s research bridges micro- and nanofabrication, additive manufacturing, and electrochemical sensing to develop deployable biosensors for agricultural, biomedical, and environmental applications. Prior to joining Virginia Tech, he conducted postdoctoral research at Carnegie Mellon University, served as a Visiting Researcher at the Hillman Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), and was a Postdoctoral Researcher at Iowa State University. He earned his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad.

Dr. Ali has authored 81 peer-reviewed journal articles, delivered more than two dozen conference presentations, and holds 16 filed patents. His work has been cited nearly 6055 times (h-index 46, i10-index 76). He is the recipient of several honors, including the Distinguished Alumni Award from IIT Hyderabad (2023) and the Virginia Tech By-Example Award (2025), recognizing his contributions to high-impact, translational biosensing technologies.

Abstract:

Modern health systems across human, animal, and environmental domains remain largely reactive, relying on episodic, laboratory-based measurements that provide delayed and incomplete insight into dynamic biological processes. Despite major advances in biosensor sensitivity and analytical performance, most sensing platforms remain optimized for controlled experimental conditions rather than the complex, evolving environments in which real-world health decisions are made. This gap between laboratory innovation and deployable diagnostics continues to limit the real-world impact of biosensing technologies. In this keynote, I will present a unifying vision for reimagining biosensing beyond the lab, positioning advanced manufacturing as a central enabler of translation. I will highlight how lithography-based micro- and nanofabrication, together with scalable additive manufacturing and three-dimensional printing, provide unprecedented design freedom over sensor geometry, architecture, and system integration. These capabilities allow biosensors to be engineered around biological reality, including variability, motion, and continuous interaction, rather than static test conditions. The talk will feature representative case studies illustrating how this manufacturing-driven design philosophy translates across diverse applications. Examples include printed biosensors for SARS-CoV-2 detection, neurochemical sensing of dopamine, and highly sensitive sensing platforms for the early detection of subclinical hypocalcemia and mastitis in dairy cows, where timely intervention is critical but conventional diagnostics remain delayed or episodic. Together, these examples demonstrate how a common fabrication and systems approach can be adapted across human and animal health contexts. The keynote will conclude with a forward-looking perspective on how advanced manufacturing–enabled biosensors, when integrated with edge electronics, machine learning, and system-level analytics, can serve as foundational infrastructure for next-generation integrated health systems. Such systems have the potential to shift health monitoring from episodic testing to continuous insight, and from reactive response to proactive, data-driven decision-making across clinical, agricultural, and environmental domains.

Dr. Netz Arroyo

Title: Insights into the Transport of Molecules Across Body Compartments via Aptamer Sensors

Netzahualcóyotl Arroyo Currás, known as Netz Arroyo, is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. He obtained his Ph.D. in 2014 from The University of Texas at Austin under the guidance of Allen J. Bard. From 2015 to 2018 he completed postdoctoral training under Dr. Kevin W. Plaxco at University of California Santa Barbara. He became Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) in 2019 and was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in 2023. In 2024, he was invited to move his research program to UNC, where he currently works since 2025. His laboratory pursues the development of electrochemical biosensors for continuous molecular monitoring in the body, and for clinical diagnostics. He was named a Rising Star in Sensing by the journal ACS Sensors in 2020, and in 2023 his research was highlighted as highly impactful by the journal Langmuir, both publications of the American Chemical Society. Dr. Arroyo serves as Interim Editor-in-Chief of the newly launched journal Sensors Plus by The Electrochemical Society. He is funded by the NIH, AFRL, several corporate sponsorships and by private foundations. In his free time, he enjoys playing, dancing, and eating ice cream with his daughters in the lovely city of Chapel Hill, NC.

Abstract:

The Netz Lab at UNC develops electrochemical biosensors and continuous molecular monitoring technologies to enable real-time, personalized health management. Our work centers on electrochemical aptamer-based (E-AB) sensors that use structure-switching receptors for highly selective and reversible detection of clinically relevant biomarkers. By combining advanced surface chemistry, redox reporter optimization, and computational modeling, we design sensors that are stable, miniaturized, and biocompatible for wearable or implantable platforms. Current efforts focus on continuous monitoring of protein biomarkers to assess metabolic health, with additional applications in therapeutic drug monitoring and point-of-care diagnostics. This presentation will highlight our progress in interfacing sensors with the body and addressing questions of molecular transport across tissue compartments. Ultimately, we aim to answer a key question: Which molecules can be measured minimally invasively through the skin while accurately reflecting medically relevant blood concentrations?

Dr. Xuewei Wang

Title: Seeing Chemicals in Blood: Microfluidic and Millifluidic Optical Sensors Based on Oil Droplets

Dr. Xuewei Wang is the Mary E. Kapp Associate Professor of Chemistry at Virginia Commonwealth University. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences and completed a JDRF Advanced Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor. He established his independent research program in 2019, focusing on the development of optical and electrochemical sensors for chemical analysis in complex samples, particularly in ultra-small volumes of blood. His group also designs biocompatible and antibacterial medical implants through the controlled release of nitric oxide. Dr. Wang’s research is currently supported by multiple NIH, foundation, and corporate grants. He is the lead inventor on eight issued and pending U.S./PCT patents and a co-founder of a start-up company aimed at creating the first at-home electrolyte meter. He is the recipient of the 2025 Virginia State Outstanding Faculty Award and the 2024 VCU Outstanding Early Career Faculty Award.

Abstract:

The Wang group develops two fluidic platforms that utilize specially formulated oil droplets as optical sensors for analyzing blood chemistry, including electrolytes, metabolites, enzymes, and drugs. The first platform, pressure-driven droplet microfluidics, continuously generates sub-nanoliter oil droplets as sensors for chemical analysis of equally small aqueous samples. This system enables real-time, multi-analyte monitoring in continuously aspirated biofluids, making it a promising tool for bedside critical care applications in hospital settings. The second platform, push-pull millifluidics, integrates a microliter-scale fluidic channel with a stepper motor to enable controlled extraction between an oil segment and an aqueous sample. Designed for portability and affordability, this system offers a practical solution for diagnosing and managing chronic diseases in home and small-clinic settings. Unlike traditional optical sensors, these fluidic platforms uniquely enable independent tracking of optical signals from the sensor phase, the sample phase, and the interface. By leveraging fluorescence and absorbance detection in the oil phase, we have performed a variety of chemical and biochemical analyses on complex biological samples including whole blood.