MSE Seminar Series: Dr. Yue Jane Wu (UCR)

Flyer: Engineering Microplastics with Million-Scale Optical and DNA Barcodes for Dynamic Single-Cell Imaging and Analysis

Abstract: Cells continually move, interact, and respond to their surroundings, yet most single-cell technologies capture only static snapshots of these processes. In this talk, I will introduce engineered microparticles that carry million-scale optical and DNA barcodes and serve as unique cell IDs. Each barcode modality provides millions of distinct codes, enabling thousands to millions of individual cells to be identified and followed over time. The optical barcodes support repeated identification during imaging, while the DNA barcodes connect recorded cellular behaviors to molecular profiles in downstream analysis. By integrating scalable particle engineering, high-content imaging, and single-cell analysis, this approach links dynamic cellular phenotypes with molecular information at high throughput. This platform opens new frontiers in high-throughput single-cell analysis and has the potential to transform biological discovery and therapeutic development.