Research Program and Theme
Cancer Technology and Data Science | Molecular Measurement
Research Focus
Brian Cunningham’s research is developing biosensors and detection instruments for pharmaceutical high throughput screening, disease diagnostics, point-of-care testing, life science research, and environmental monitoring. He led a team of researchers to develop a method to capture and count cancer-associated microRNAs with a technique named Photonic Resonator Absorption Microscopy (PRAM) that was sensitive enough to detect small amounts of known prostate cancer markers in a patient’s serum. In collaboration with CCIL Research Program Leader Brendan Harley’s research group, his group developed PC-enhanced microscopy for high-resolution imaging. It was able to image stem cells and cancer cells interacting with ECM materials. The Cunningham lab also developed PC-enhanced fluorescence assays for early cancer diagnosis, effective for breast cancer biomarkers.
Education
- Ph.D., Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois, 1990
Campus Affiliations
- Intel Alumni Endowed Chair, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Program Leader, Cancer Center at Illinois, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation
- Professor, Bioengineering
- Professor, Micro and Nanotechnology Lab
- Professor, Biomedical and Translational Sciences
- Professor, Nutritional Sciences
- Affiliate, Chemistry
- Professor, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
- Professor, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology
- Affiliate, Personalized Nutrition Initiative, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology
- Director, Center for Genomic Diagnostics, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology
Select Honors and Recognitions
- IEEE Fellow, 2012
- NAI Fellow, 2013
- AIMBE Fellow, 2013
- AAAS Fellow, 2016