Our research develops new ways to measure and analyze complex biological systems. We combine experimental technologies with mathematical and AI-driven analytical frameworks to understand how heterogeneous molecular components collectively give rise to system-level behavior. The work integrates ideas from chemistry, engineering, physics, modern statistics, and artificial intelligence. Current projects span viral evolution, membrane protein signaling, and spatial molecular organization in the brain.
MEASURE
Develop high-resolution experimental platforms to observe biological systems in their native complexity.
INTERPRET
Create mathematical and AI-driven frameworks that translate high-dimensional measurements into interpretable biological insight.
UNDERSTAND
Apply these approaches to reveal how molecular organization gives rise to system-level behavior in complex biological systems.
Latest News
12/2025
- Congratulations to Heewon for winning a Biophysical Society travel award!
11/2025
- Welcome Megan & Matthew to the Han lab’s microfluidics subgroup!
- Welcome Josue to the Han lab’s spatial transcriptomics subgroup!
10/2025
- Group Bonding: Corn Maze!
- Congratulations to Ella on completing LitSem!
09/2025
- Welcome Juhwan to the Han lab’s microfluidics subgroup!
07/2025
- Congratulations to Sungjong on completing his thesis defense!
06/2025
- Congratulations to Ella on being selected as an NIH CBI trainee.
04/2025
- Group photos in Japan House
01/2025
- Qianlu passed a qualifying exam. Congratulations!
11/2024
- Fun group activity! ICE SKATING
- Welcome Ella to the Han lab’s microfluidics subgroup!
04/2024
- Qianlu got a Neuroscience Special Recognition Award. Congratulations!
03/2024
- Our spot-based sub-pixel stitching paper is out now. Congrats Seokjin, Alex, and Juyeon!
- Welcome Van, our new postdoc, to the microfluidics subgroup!
- Our robust synthesis method for quantum dot ligands is published. Congrats Juyeon, Joon, and Alex!
12/2023
- Hooding ceremony. Congrats Alex, Thomas, and Wenyang!
11/2023
- Congratulations to Wenyang on completing his thesis defense!
10/2023
- Thomas completed his defense. Congratulations Dr. Thomas!
- Alex completed his defense. Congratulations!!!
08/2023
- NIH equipment funding secured for multimodal spatial-omics platform!
- Awarded NIH R21 (NHGRI) for ultra-high-throughput spatial transcriptomics (w/ Prof. Zhao).
- Congrats to Thomas on his Physical Chemistry dissertation award & seminar!
04/2023
- Prof. Han keynote at AWSOM (Apr 27–28).
- Ryan completed his thesis defense. Congratulations Dr. Miller!
03/2023
- Congrats to Seungwook on his summer undergraduate scholarship!
01/2023
- Featured: “Hee-Sun Han leading Spatial Omics Initiative at Illinois” – Read more.
11/2022
- Marisa passed her prelim and is now a PhD candidate. Congrats!
09/2022
- JuYeon joined Millikin University as Assistant Professor!
- Welcome first-years Farah, Jin, and Yaxin!
- Secured ~$2 M NIH MIRA for multiscale imaging toolkit.
08/2022
- Ryan published on antioxidant release in ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces.
06/2022
- Wenyang published “Droplet Microfluidics for High-Resolution Virology” (ACS Anal. Chem.).
- Outreach at Next Gen STEAM Studio – photos.
- Prof. Han awarded Amy L. Devine Award for student learning!
05/2022
- Thomas published double-emulsion droplet study (ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces).
02/2022
- Wenyang’s first paper on inertial microfluidics (ACS Anal. Chem.)!
10/2021
- Lab attended MicroTAS hybrid conference in Palm Springs, CA.
08/2021
- Summer symposium: Juyeon Best Productivity; Thomas Best Presentation – photos.
- Congrats Wenyang on PhD candidacy!
- Congrats Joon on faculty position in Korea!
07/2021
- CSL Behring funding for multiplexed biomarker detection secured!
06/2021
- Prof. Han invited to ECS meeting on QD precursor design.
- Welcome Calvin Doty to the lab!
- Congrats Marisa on CBI training grant!
03/2021
- Prof. Han talk on microfluidics at Pittcon 2021.
02/2021
- Prof. Han session chair at SLAS2021 & finalist for Innovation Award.
- Prof. Han won Johnson & Johnson WiSTEM2D Scholars Award.
01/2021
- Welcome Sungjong Lee, Jack Hovey, and Starwing Chen!
12/2020
- Invited seminar at NE Complex Fluid Meeting; Biology seminar at SNU.
11/2020
- Welcome Marisa Asadian!
10/2020
- Seminar in Biomedical Engineering at Purdue.
09/2020
- Welcome Giselle to the group!
08/2020
- Congratulations to Joon on his ACS Nano & Nature Comm articles!
06/2020
- Thomas’s Lab on a Chip cover; filed QD precursor patent.
05/2020
- Prof. Han awarded seed grant from Cancer Center at Illinois – details.
03/2020
- Farewell Arun Jayaraman to Georgia Tech!
- Pittcon 2020: presentations by Joon, Juyeon, Thomas, Alex, Ding & Wenyang.
02/2020
- Alex received the UIUC Chemistry Travel Grant!
01/2020
- Welcome Ryan Miller to the lab!
11/2019
- Invited seminar in ChemE at Virginia Tech.
09/2019
- Lab attended Turkey Run Conference – poster presentations!
08/2019
- Invited lecture at US-Korea Conference; welcome Andrew Dobria!
06/2019
- Filed bead-based diagnostic patent with Bashir group!
03/2019
- Invited seminar at Beckman Institute.
12/2018
- Welcome Wenyang Jing to the lab!
11/2018
- Turkey Run keynote & posters; seminar at Pitt’s MMBG.
10/2018
- Welcome Hanyang Zhao to the lab!
07/2018
- Welcome postdoc JuYeon Lee!
05/2018
- Lab construction complete! See photos.
