Masatoshi Maeki, Associate Professor, Hokkaido University

Masatoshi Maeki Biographical Sketch

Masatoshi Maeki is an Associate Professor in the Division of Applied Chemistry at the Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University. He received his Ph.D. degree in 2014 from Kyushu University. After graduation, he worked as a Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) at Hokkaido University. He joined the Faculty of Engineering at Hokkaido University as an Assistant Professor in 2015 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2021. His research focuses on the development of microfluidic devices for applications in drug delivery systems and biomolecular analysis. He has received several awards, including the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) Prize for Young Scientists in the field of science and technology in 2024. He also received the Hokkaido Science and Technology Encouragement Award in 2023, the Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry Award for Young Researcher’s in 2016, and the Young Innovator Award on Chemistry and Micro-Nano Systems (CHEMINAS Young Innovator Award) in 2015.

Nan Zhang, Associate Professor, University College Dublin -- Conference Chairperson

Nan Zhang Biographical Sketch

Dr Nan Zhang is an Associate Professor in Manufacturing and Design at the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering of University College Dublin (UCD) in Ireland. His research covers polymer micro/nano manufacturing, precision manufacturing of plastic microfluidic chips, microfluidic systems for synthesising genetic nanomedicine and molecular diagnostics, manufacturing functional micro/nano structured surfaces, and atomic and close-to-atomic-scale manufacturing. He has been founded by H2020 MSCA ITN Grant as a consortium coordinator, Science Foundation Ireland, Enterprise Ireland-Commercialization Funding, Irish Research Council etc. He has published more than 60 peer-reviewed journal papers in Materials Today, Nano Letters and the International Journal of Machine Tool and Manufacture. He was the chair of the 6th and 8th international conferences on polymer replication on the nanoscale (PRN2019, PRN2022). He is the associate editor of the journal “Frontier-Lab on Chip Technology” and a Council member of the Microfluidic Association. His research has generated several patents which have been commercialized or are in the process of being commercialized. He has received the University Research Impact award in 2022, the Year of Invention Award 2024, and has been highlighted as a Rising Star Fellow by UCD.

Noah Malmstadt, Professor, Mork Family Dept. of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science, University of Southern California

Noah Malmstadt Biographical Sketch

Noah Malmstadt is Professor at the University of Southern California. He received a BS in Chemical Engineering from Caltech and a PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Washington. Following postdoctoral work at UCLA, he joined the Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at USC in 2007. Malmstadt is the recipient of a 2012 Office of Naval Research Young Investigator award. His research focuses on microfluidic strategies to facilitate material fabrication and biophysical analysis. He has pioneered the integration of ionic liquids as solvents in droplet microreactors and the application of microfluidic systems to synthesizing biomimetic cell membranes. Microfluidic analytical techniques he has developed include methods for measuring the permeability of cell membranes to druglike molecules and techniques for measuring ionic currents through membrane proteins.

Sven Kreutel, CEO, Particle Metrix, Inc.

Sven Kreutel Biographical Sketch

Sven Kreutel studied biology at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart, Germany. After his graduation in biology, he received his PhD in microbiology and protein biochemistry at the University of Hohenheim under Prof. Dr. Andreas Kuhn and Dr. Dorothee Kiefer working on the light sensing and signal transduction in photosynthetic bacteria. Since then he worked in different sales and sales manager positions within the life science industry from clinical research over biology to nanoparticle sciences. In 2021 he was appointed as CEO of the American subsidiary of Particle Metrix.