Lee, L

Biography

Education

  • Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1979
  • ​B.S., National Taiwan University, 1972

Awards/Honor


2016 Lifetime Achievement Award, Society of Advanced Molding Technology

2010 International Award, Society of Plastics Engineers

2008 Malcolm E. Pruitt Award, Council of Chemical Research

2006 Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering                           

2001 Fellow, Society of Plastics Engineers

Expertise

Professor Lee founded and led the NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center for Affordable Nanoengineering of Polymeric Biomedical Devices (CANPBD) from 2004 to 2015. He conducted research in polymer nanocomposites and foams for industrial applications, and bio-micro/nanoengineering and micro/nanofluidics for new materials and devices that have the potential to greatly benefit future medical diagnosis and gene therapy. For example, his Tissue Nanotransfection (TNT) innovation was named one of 5 breakthrough medical technologies for 2017 by Forbes magazine. The device painlessly injects genetic code into the skin, transforming cells into any type of cell desired, enabling the body to repair injuries or damaged organs. Details of the study appear in Nature Nanotechnology (August 2017). His recent work published in Nature Biomedical Engineering (January 2020) on Cellular Nanoporation (CNP) enables the use of engineered exosomes, nanoparticles released by cells, as a universal nucleic-acid carrier for medical applications requiring transcriptional manipulation.

 

He is no longer accepting graduate students.