Dr. Guzman is currently the Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of HelioWave Technologies, LLC, where he is leveraging his expertise in microfluidics to develop innovative solutions for the biotechnology, biopharmaceutical, and biomanufacturing industry. Previously, he was a fulltime Postdoctoral Researcher and PhD student in the NanoBio Systems Laboratory (under the guidance of Prof. Arum Han) at Texas A&M University. His research focuses on the development of microfluidic, lab-on-a-chip, droplet microfluidic, and high-throughput chip-based testing/screening systems that enable the realization of novel high-accuracy high-efficiency biological assays that can be directly translated to robust and widely adopted biological and medical applications.
One of his main research areas has been the development of high-throughput droplet microfluidic-based lab-on-a-chip screening systems for diverse library screening, including compound screening, mutant library screening, microbial pathogenicity screening, and polymicrobial interaction assays. He has led the development of several high-throughput droplet microfluidic-based screening systems for microbial, microalgae, and microbial pathogen screening applications. The PolyChip droplet microfluidic system that he has developed integrates high-efficiency droplet manipulation techniques and 3D microstructures to screen environmental microbes for the identification of organisms that produce antimicrobial/antifungal activities. This system was realized by combining several patented droplet manipulation techniques into a single comprehensive integrated screening system to achieve an automated and robust single-cell resolution screening platform, which is the foundational technology for this proposal. Due to his more than 10 years of experience in the field of microfluidics, although he has the most experiences in droplet microfluidics systems, he has trained many lab personnel on a range of microdevice/microfabrication techniques, ranging from simple cellular analysis chips to electrode-embedded microfluidic chips, including impedance detection.
His main contribution to this proposal is his hands-on expertise in developing automated and integrated high-throughput droplet microfluidic and lab-on-a-chip systems, including expertise in microfluidic device design, finite element analysis, microfabrication, instrumentation, laser-based optics, impedance spectroscopy, and software programing. He also has extensive experiences with microbiological assays/techniques, especially their use in microfluidic devices. He has been working in a multidisciplinary team research environment for the past ten years, and has deep understanding on how to bridge between disciplines, especially between engineers and life scientists. He has experiences in leading small groups of engineering and life science students in projects funded by DARPA, NSF, and QNRF.
