Mohamed Abdelgawad, PhD

Assistant Professor

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Assiut Microfluidics Lab (AML)

Assiut University

Tel.: (+20) 88-241-1239

 

Education        Research Experience        Publications       Awards        

 

Education

PhD in Mechanical Engineering                                                                                                     Jan. 2009

University of Toronto, Canada

Supervisor: Prof. Aaron Wheeler

Thesis title: Digital Microfluidics for Integration of Lab-on-Chip Devices.

 

Master of Applied Science in Mechanical engineering                                                                Nov. 2003

Concordia University, Canada

Supervisor: Prof. I. Hassan

Thesis title: Numerical Simulation of Transient Performance of Viscous Micropumps

 

B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering                                                                                   August, 1998

Assiut University, Egypt

Graduation project: Design and Manufacturing of an Evaporative Air Cooler.

 

 

Research Experience

Post Doctoral Fellow                                                                                            January, 2009 - Present

Department of Surgery, University of Toronto

Project title: High-Speed Electromechanical Characterization of Biological Cells for Bladder Cancer Diagnosis.

  •  Developing a lab-on-a-chip device for bladder cancer detection using cell mechanical properties as a biomarker.

  •  Developed new method to fabricate circular microchannels in PDMS to facilitate on device micropipette cell aspiration.

 

Research and Teaching Assistant                                                                        August, 2005 - December, 2008

Wheeler Microfluidics Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto .

·         Working on designing an interface between digital and channel microfluidics to prepare biological samples of Separations.

·         Trained on microfabrication techniques in standard clean-rooms.

·         Co-supervised an undergraduate project titled “Microcontact printing based fabrication of digital microfluidics devices” which lead to a publication in an international journal.

·         Tutored MIE100 Dynamics for 4 terms, MIE414 Applied Fluid Mechanics, and worked as Lab demonstrator for MIE312F Fluid Mechanics.

 

Research and Teaching Assistant                                                                        September, 2004 - August, 2005

Microfluidics and Biochips Laboratory (Lab director: Prof. Dongqing Li)

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Toronto .

·         Project title: Dielectrophoretic manipulation of particles in micro geometries.

·         Trained on microfabrication by soft lithography.

 

Part time Research Engineer                                                                                April, 2003 - August, 2003

A Collaboration project between Concordia University and Hardt Equipment Manufacturing Inc., Montreal , Canada .

·         Assigned thermal design of the Inferno-3000 rotisserie oven.

·         Modeled numerically the combustion process inside the burner.

·         Optimized the internal thermal design of the oven furnace.

Research and Teaching Assistant                                                                        May, 2001 - September, 2003

Concordia University , Montreal , Canada

·         Obtained my Master Degree in September 2003. Thesis title: Numerical Simulation of Transient Performance of Viscous Micropumps.

·         Supervised an undergraduate project titled “Heat transfer and Fluid Flow in Microchannels” which lead to a publication in an international journal.

·         Tutored Fluid Mechanics I, Thermodynamics I and Heat Transfer I.

 

Publications

 

Journal Papers:

  1. N. A. Mousa, M. J. Jebrail, H. Yang, M. Abdelgawad, P. Metalnikov, J. Chen, A. R. Wheeler, and R. F. Casper, Droplet-Scale Estrogen Assays in Breast Tissue, Blood,and Serum, Science Translational Medicine, accepted on July 20th, 2009.
  2. M. Abdelgawad, P. Park, and A. R. Wheeler, Optimization of Device Geometry in Single-Plate Digital Microfluidics, Journal of Applied Physics, 105, 094506, 2009.
  3. M. Abdelgawad, M. W. L. Watson, and A. R. Wheeler, Hybrid Microfluidics: A Digital-to-Channel Interface for In-Line Sample Processing and Chemical Separations, Lab on a Chip, vol. 9, n. 8, pp. 1046-1051, 2009.

    • Featured on the front cover of the April, 2009 issue (vol. 9, n.8) of Lab on a Chip.

  4. H. Yang, V. N. Luk, M. Abelgawad, I. Barbulovic-Nad, A. R. Wheeler, A World-to-Chip Interface for Digital Microfluidics, Analytical Chemistry, vol. 81, n. 3, pp. 1061-1067, 2009.
  5. M. Abdelgawad and A. R. Wheeler, The Digital Revolution: The New Paradigm of Microfluidics, Advanced Material, vol. 21, pp. 920-925, 2009.
  6. M. Abdelgawad, M.W.L. Watson, E.K.W. Young, J. Mudrik, M.D. Ungrin, and A. R. Wheeler, Soft-lithography: Masters on Demand, Lab on Chip, vol. 8, pp. 1379 – 1385, 2008.
    • Highlighted as “Breaking News” on NewScientist website on Sept. 23rd 2008.
    • Listed in ten most accessed articles on Lab-on-a-Chip website in August 2008.
  7. M. Abdelgawad, S. Freire , H. Yang, and A. R. Wheeler, All-Terrain Droplet Actuation, Lab on Chip, vol. 8, pp. 672-677, 2008..
    • Highlighted in Nature vol. 452, pp.668-669, 2008.
    • Highlighted in Analytical Chemistry, vol. 80, n. 13, pp. 4788, 2008
    • Highlighted in Chemical and Engineering News (the trade magazine for the American Chemical Society).
    • Most accessed paper on Lab-on-a-Chip website in April 2008.
  8. M. Abdelgawad and A. R. Wheeler "Low-Cost, Rapid-Prototyping of Digital Microfluidics Devices" Microfluidics and Nanofluidics, vol. 4, n. 4, pp. 349-355, 2008.
  9. M. Abdelgawad and A. R. Wheeler, Rapid Prototyping in Copper Substrates for Digital Microfluidics, Advanced Materials, 19, 133-137, 2007.
  10. M. Watson, M. Abdelgawad, G. Ye, N. Yonson, J. Trottier, and A. R. Wheeler, Micro-Contact Printing-Based Fabrication of Digital Microfluidic Devices, Analytical Chemistry, vol. 78, n. 22, pp. 7877-7885, 2006.
  11. M. Abdelgawad, I. Hassan, N. Esmail , and P. Phutthavong, Numerical Investigation of Multistage Viscous Micropump Configurations, Journal of Fluids Engineering, vol. 127, n. 4, pp. 734-742, 2005.
  12. M. Abdelgawad, I. Hassan, and N. Esmail, Transient Behavior of the Viscous Micropump, Microscale Thermophysical Engineering, vol. 8, n. 4, pp. 361-381, 2004.
  13. Hassan, P. Phutthavong, and M. Abdelgawad, Microchannel Heat Sinks: An Overview of The State-of-The-Art, Microscale Thermophysical Engineering, vol. 8, n.3, pp. 183 - 205, 2004.

Conference Papers:

1.   M. Abdelgawad, C. Wu, W.Y. Chien, Y. Sun, Fast, simple fabrication of circular microchannels in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Proc. of the 23rd  IEEE International Conference on Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS 2010), pp. 1071-1074, 2010.

2.       H. Yang, V. Luk, M. Abdelgawad, I. Barbulovic-Nad, and A. R. Wheeler, Exchangable Pre-Loaded “Skin Depot” for Digital Microfluidics, microTAS 2008, San Diego , California , 12-16 October, 2008.

3.       A.R. Wheeler, M. Abdelgawad, M.W. Watson, Hybrid-Digital-Channel Microfludics for Pre-processing and Separations, microTAS 2008, San Diego, California, 12-16 October, 2008.

4.       Sergio L.S. Freire, M. Abdelgawad, Hao Yang and Aaron Wheeler, 3D Droplet Actuation in Digital Microfluidics Devices: Towards Integration with Mass Spectrometry, microTAS 2007, Paris, France, 7-11 October 2007.

5.       M. Abdelgawad and A. R. Wheeler, 3D Droplet Actuation in Digital Microfluidics Devices, Transducers’07, Lyon, France, 10-14 June, 2007.

6.       M. Abdelgawad, I. Hassan, N. Esmail, and P. Phutthavong, Multistage Viscous Micropumps, ASME 2nd International Conference on Microchannels and Minichannels, Rochester , NY , USA , June 2004.

7.       M. Abdelgawad, I. Hassan, P. Phutthavong, and N. Esmail, Towards a Better Understanding of Viscous Micropumps: Transient Performance, Eurotherm Seminar No.75-Microscale Heat Transfer2, University of Reims, France, July 2003.

8.       P. Phutthavong, M. Abdelgawad, and I. Hassan, Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow in Microchannel Heat Sinks: An Overview of the Current State-of-The-Art, 3rd International Conference on Heat and Mass Transfer, Banff , Canada , May 2003.

Conference presentations

1.   23rd  IEEE International Conference on Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS 2010), Hong Kong, 24-28 January, 2010. Poster title: Fast, simple fabrication of circular microchannels in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS).

2.       6th International Meeting on Electrowetting, Los Angeles , California , 20th – 22nd August, 2008. Poster title: “Optimization of Device Geometry in Single-Plate Digital Microfluidics Devices”. Received Best Poster award (offered to best three posters in the meeting).

3.       Microfluidics and Nanofluidics 2008, Cancun , Mexico , 21st-24th Feb., 2008. Presentation title: “Master-Printing: An Ultra-Rapid Prototyping Technique for Fabricating Microfluidic Devices”.

4.       Transducers’07, Lyon , France , 10-14 June, 2007. Poster title: “3D Droplet Actuation in Digital Microfluidics Devices”.

5.       The 56th Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference, Sherbrooke , Quebec , 15-18 October, 2006. Presentation title: “Rapid Prototyping in Copper Substrates for Digital Microfluidics”.

6.       The 3rd International Conference on Heat and Mass Transfer, Banff , Alberta , May 2003. Presentation title: “Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow in Microchannel Heat Sinks: An Overview of the Current State-of-The-Art”.

Awards

  1. NSERC post doctoral fellowship - Winter, 2009.

  2. Best Poster award, 6th International Meeting on Electrowetting - Summer 2008.

  3. Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) - Summer, 2007

  4. Muslim Students’ Association at UofT scholarship - Summer 2007

  5. Transducers-07 Conference Travel Award - Summer 2007

  6. Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS), as an international student - Summer, 2006

  7. Lachlan Gilchrist Fellowship - Fall, 2005.

  8. University of Toronto Fellowship - Fall, 2004.

  9. Power Corporations of Canada Graduate Fellowship - Fall, 2002.

  10. Concordia University Partial Tuition Scholarship For International Students - Fall, 2002 .

  11. Concordia University Graduate Fellowship - Fall, 2001.

  12. Concordia University International Fee Remission Award - Fall, 2001.

  13. Dr. Mahmoud Hassan Saadawi Award, Assiut University - 1997.

  14. Dr. Ramadan Mohamed Sadek Award, Assiut University - 1996.

  15. Dr. Aboelwafa Megahed Award, Assiut University - 1994.