Xiaohua Huang

Xiaohua Huang is a Professor of Bioengineering at the University of California San Diego. His research focuses on the development of digital molecular technologies for decoding the molecular circuitry and operating system of living systems. By integrating principles from molecular biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, computer science, and electrical engineering, his lab engineers devices and technologies for single-molecule DNA and protein sequencing, as well as precise digital enumeration of RNA and proteins in single cells and complex biological samples. His work spans genomics, proteomics, molecular medical diagnostics, lab-on-a-chip microfluidics, nano-device engineering, DNA data storage, and molecular computing, with an emphasis on achieving deterministic and predictive understanding of human physiology and disease. He received his PhD in Biophysical Chemistry from Stanford University, where he studied protein structure and dynamics using laser microscopy and protein engineering. He completed postdoctoral research in genetics and pathology at Yale University School of Medicine, where he co-invented rolling circle amplification technology for single-molecule DNA amplification and mutation detection, and later worked with George Church at Harvard Medical School on genome sequencing technologies. His research has contributed to the NIH $1000 Genome Project and has been supported by the NSF CAREER Award.