Postdoctoral Fellow
heath.isbscience.org/bio/alphonsus-ng/
My previous research was focused on the development of analytical technologies for biomedical research and global health. I completed my PhD with Aaron Wheeler at the University of Toronto in 2015, during which time I developed two major techniques. The first is a new approach to study rapid phosphorylation signaling at the single-cell level.1 The second is a miniaturized method for magnetic particle-based immunoassays, which began with a proof-of-concept,2 and matured into a diagnostic evaluation with clinical samples.3 I spent another year as a postdoc in the Wheeler lab making the immunoassays more field-deployable. In collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), I led a team to test this technology in Kakuma, a refugee camp in a remote part of Kenya.4 Since July 2016, I have been a postdoc with James Heath at Caltech (Jul. 2016 – Mar. 2018) and at the Institute for Systems Biology (Apr. 2018 – Present), developing micro devices for cancer immunotherapy applications.
1. Ng A, Dean Chamberlain M, Situ H, Lee V, Wheeler A. Digital microfluidic immunocytochemistry in single cells. Nature Communications. 2015; 6(1):-.
2. Ng A, Choi K, Luoma R, Robinson J, Wheeler A. Digital Microfluidic Magnetic Separation for Particle-Based Immunoassays. Analytical Chemistry. 2012 September 26; 84(20):8805-8812.
3. Ng A, Lee M, Choi K, Fischer A, Robinson J, Wheeler A. Digital Microfluidic Platform for the Detection of Rubella Infection and Immunity: A Proof of Concept. Clinical Chemistry. 2014 December 15; 61(2):420-429.
4. Ng A, Fobel R, Fobel C, Lamanna J, Rackus D, Summers A, Dixon C, Dryden M, Lam C, Ho M, Mufti N, Lee V, Asri M, Sykes E, Chamberlain M, Joseph R, Ope M, Scobie H, Knipes A, Rota P, Marano N, Chege P, Njuguna M, Nzunza R, Kisangau N, Kiogora J, Karuingi M, Burton J, Borus P, Lam E, Wheeler A. A digital microfluidic system for serological immunoassays in remote settings. Science Translational Medicine. 2018 April 25; 10(438):eaar6076-.
BASc and PhD, both in Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto
