Biosketch:
Rodrigo Martinez-Duarte is a tenured Associate Professor in the School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, faculty at the Eukaryotic Pathogens Innovation Center, and Faculty Scholar in the School of Health Research at Clemson University in the US. He is currently the chair of the Global Engagement Committee in the College of Engineering, Computing, and Applied Sciences. Rodrigo benefits from an interdisciplinary and international background that started in Mexico (BS Electrical Engineering, Tecnologico de Monterrey) and continued in the US (MS, PhD Mechanical Engineering University of California, Irvine) and Switzerland (Postdoc Microtechnology, EPFL) before arriving in Clemson. Along this journey, he has been a visiting scholar in Spain (Universitat de Barcelona), India (IIT Kanpur), South Korea (UNIST), and Sweden (Chalmers University of Technology).

Research Summary:
As head of the Multiscale Manufacturing Laboratory, his group’s research expertise lies in the interface between micro/nanofabrication, carbonaceous materials, electrokinetics, and microfluidics. Rodrigo is known as the pioneer of carbon-electrode Dielectrophoresis (carbonDEP), a technique for bioparticle manipulation using carbon electrodes and microfluidics devices with application to diagnostics and therapeutics. He is also known for advancing the use of renewable materials and non-traditional techniques such as origami and robocasting to manufacture shaped geometries that serve as precursors to architected carbon and carbide structures. At the nanoscale, his group is innovating ways to use microbial factories as nanoweavers of biofibers. Recurrent themes in his lab are engineering tools and systems for healthcare diagnostics as well as assessing the effect of processing on the properties of carbonaceous materials and structures at multiple length scales, towards tailoring their performance in specific applications.

Selected Publications:

G. Diaz-Armas, A.P. Cervantes-Gonzalez, R. Martinez-Duarte and V.H. Perez-Gonzalez, “Electrically-driven microfluidic platforms for exosome manipulation and characterization” Electrophoresis, 43, 327-339 (2022).

R. Martinez-Duarte “A critical review on the fabrication techniques that can enable higher throughput in dielectrophoresis devices” Electrophoresis, 43, 232-248 (2022)

R. Martinez-Duarte, D. Mager, J. Korvink, and M. Islam “Evaluating Carbon-electrode Dielectrophoresis under the ASSURED criteria” Frontiers in Medical Technology, 4, 922737 (2022).

D. Keck, C. Stuart, J. Duncan, E. Gullette and R. Martinez-Duarte, “Highly localized Enrichment of Trypanosoma brucei parasites using dielectrophoresis” Micromachines, 11 (6), 625 (2020).

M. Islam, D. Keck, J. Gilmore and R. Martinez-Duarte, “Characterization of the dielectrophoretic response of different Candida strains using 3D carbon microelectrodes” Micromachines, 11 (3), 255-267 (2020).

R. Natu, M. Islam, D. Keck and R. Martinez-Duarte, “Pick and Transfer of targeted cells using dielectrophoresis” Lab on a chip, 19, 2512-2525 (2019).

M. Islam, R. Natu, M. F. Larraga-Martinez and R. Martinez-Duarte “Enrichment of diluted cell population from large sample volumes using 3D Carbon-electrode Dielectrophoresis” Biomicrofluidics, 10, 033107 (2016).

R. Martinez-Duarte, “Fabrication Challenges and Perspectives on the use of Carbon-electrode Dielectrophoresis in Sample Preparation” IET Nanobiotechnology, 11 (2), 127-133 (2016).

R. Martinez-Duarte, “Microfabrication Technologies in Dielectrophoresis Applications – a review”, Electrophoresis, 33, 3110-3132 (2012).

G. Mernier, R. Martinez-Duarte, R. Lehal, F. Radtke and P. Renaud, “Very High throughput electrical cell lysis and extraction of intracellular compounds using 3D carbon electrodes in lab-on-a-chip devices” Micromachines, 3, 574-581 (2012).

R. Martinez-Duarte, P. Renaud and M. J. Madou, “A novel approach to dielectrophoresis using carbon electrodes” Electrophoresis, 32, 2385-2392 (2011).

R. Martinez-Duarte, R. Gorkin, K. Abi-Samra, M. Madou, “The integration of 3D Carbon-electrode Dielectrophoresis on a CD-like Centrifugal Microfluidic Platform” Lab-on-a-chip, 10, 8, 1030-1043 (2010).