Postdoctoral Researcher Elevated to Highest IEEE Member Grade
Polytechnic Institute of NYU Postdoctoral Research Scientist Yatao Liu of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering has achieved Senior Member status of the IEEE. Only 8 percent of IEEE’s 388,000 members have been elevated to the Senior Member grade, the highest level members can apply for. The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) is the world’s largest professional association dedicated to advancing technological innovation.
Among the criteria Dr. Liu and other Senior Members fulfill is “‘significant performance’ over a period of at least five of their years in professional practice.”
Dr. Liu has made substantial contributions in multidisciplinary research in biosensor development, bridging chemical engineering, biomedical engineering, and electrical engineering. He has authored or co-authored over 20 peer-reviewed research papers in leading journals, delivered or produced 40 international and national conference presentations, authored 2 book chapters, and holds 4 patents.
He is currently working with Donald F. Othmer Associate Professor Rastislav Levicky’s Bio-interfacial Engineering and Diagnostics laboratory, which he helps direct, and where his research seeks to understand fundamental properties of morpholinos — a type of synthetic DNA — important to their prospective biodiagnostic applications. The group intends to develop and commercialize a morpholino-based biosensor. Morpholinos offer advantages over conventional DNA used for similar applications, including improved sensitivity and new detection modalities.
Dr. Liu’s story since coming to NYU-Poly in 2008 from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, where he earned his PhD, typifies NYU-Poly's i-squared-e (invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship) philosophy. In July 2010, he co-founded EZBiosense with Dr. Levicky and Dr. Napoleon Tercero, who is also a post-doc working in Dr. Levicky’s lab. EZBiosense is applying the lab’s research to develop simple, fast, inexpensive, and portable electronic biosensors to detect a broad range of pathogens. The startup is a member of NYU-Poly’s BEST (Brooklyn Enterprise on Science and Technology) business incubator, with Dr. Liu as its CEO.
