Faculty
Dr. Binh Vu
Research Associate Professor
Office Location S185A, Engineering Building 1
Fax 713-743-4323
Email bvvu [at] uh.edu
Education
Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX (2011)
B.S. in Chemical Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX (2002)
B.S. in Biology, University of Houston, Houston, TX (2002)
Courses
Research Interests
Point-of-Care Diagnostics | Mobile Health | Process Analytical Technology | Nanotechnology | Microfluidics | Biosensors
My body of work is centered around bringing low-cost diagnostic technology to underserved communities without sacrificing the sensitivity of lab-based assays. My research interests include novel reporters for diagnostic tests, nanotechnology, spectroscopy, biosensors, image analysis, and mobile-health technology (mHealth). My extensive experience in industry and academia in sensors and medical devices enables me to drive sensitive, low-cost, non-invasive point-of-care (POC) and mobile-health diagnostics to underserved communities and low-resource settings.
Awards & Honors
2021-2022 Young Innovator Award in the Cullen College of Engineering
Patents
- Richard C. Willson, Jinsu Kim, Binh V. Vu, Olga Patricia Vázquez-Villegas, Federico Augusto Ruiz-Ruiz, Marco Antonio Rito-Palomares. “Systems and Methods for Detection of Chemiluminescent Reactions.” (US20180031484A1). Granted.
- Richard C. Willson, Ujwal Patil, Binh V. Vu, Ekaterini Kourentzi, Mary Crum. “Systems and Method for Detection of Analytes in High Volumetric Flow Applications.” (US20210178290A1). Pending.
- Richard C. Wilson, Victoria M. Hlavinka, Binh V. Vu, Federico Augusto Ruiz-Ruiz, Marco Antonio Rito-Palomares, Mary A. Crum. “Chemical Detection Assays.” (WO2020041591A1). Pending.
- Binh V. Vu, Richard C. Wilson. “Non-enzymatic Glow Assays.” (WO2020097138A1). Pending.
Selected Publications
- Brosamer K, Kourentzi K, Willson RC, Vu B., Glowstick-inspired smartphone-readable reporters for sensitive, multiplexed lateral flow immunoassays. Communications Engineering. Nature Publishing Group UK London; 2: 31., 2023
- Chabi M, Vu B, Brosamer K, Smith M, Chavan D, Conrad JC, Willson RC, Kourentzi K. , Smartphone-read phage lateral flow assay for point-of-care detection of infection. Analyst. Royal Society of Chemistry; 148: 839–848., 2023
- Danthanarayana AN, Nandy S, Kourentzi K, Vu B, Shelite TR, Travi BL, Brgoch J, Willson RC., Smartphone-readable RPA-LFA for the high-sensitivity detection of Leishmania kDNA using nanophosphor reporters. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. Public Library of Science San Francisco, CA USA; 17: e0011436., 2023
- Goux HJ, Vu B, Wasden K, Alpadi K, Kumar A, Kalra B, Savjani G, Brosamer K, Kourentzi K, Willson RC., Development of a quantitative fluorescence lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) prototype for point-of-need detection of anti-Müllerian hormone. Practical Laboratory Medicine. Elsevier; 35: e00314., 2023
- Goyal A, Vu B, Maranholkar V, Patil U, Kourentzi K, Willson RC., Continuous monitoring of IgG using immobilized fluorescent reporters. Biotechnol Bioeng. 2023 Feb; 120(2): 482-490., 2023
- Goyal A, Vu B, Maranholkar V, Patil U, Kourentzi K, Willson RC., Continuous monitoring of IgG using immobilized fluorescent reporters. Biotechnol Bioeng. 120: 482–490., 2023
- Hlavinka V*, Vu B*, Ruiz-Ruiz F, Vazquez P, Crum M, Patil U, Kim J, Sánchez-Trasviña C, González-González M, Kourentzi K, Rito-Palomares M, Willson RC., Diabetes mellitus screening by chemiluminescent enzymatic detection of 1,5-anhydroglucitol in saliva. (In revision,* equal contribution)., 2023
- Nandy S, Crum M, Wasden K, Strych U, Goyal A, Maranholkar V, Mo W, Vu B, Kourentzi K, Willson RC., Protein A--Nanoluciferase fusion protein for generalized, sensitive detection of immunoglobulin G. Anal Biochem. Academic Press; 660: 114929., 2023
- Nandy S, Maranholkar VM, Crum M, Wasden K, Patil U, Goyal A, Vu B, Kourentzi K, Mo W, Henrickson A, Others., Expression and Characterization of Intein-Cyclized Trimer of Staphylococcus aureus Protein A Domain Z. Int J Mol Sci. MDPI; 24: 1281., 2023
- Vu B, Brosamer K, McDaniel N, Kourentzi K, Willson RC, Fernando H., “Glow ELISA”: Sensitive Immunoassay with Minimal Equipment and Stable Reagents. Analyst. Royal Society of Chemistry (In revision)., 2023
- 12. Chavan D, Adolacion JRT, Crum M, Nandy S, Lee KH, Vu B, Kourentzi K, Sabo A, Willson RC. , Isolation and Barcoding of Trace Pollen-free DNA for Authentication of Honey. J Agric Food Chem. American Chemical Society; 70: 14084–14095., 2022
- Lei R, Vu B, Kourentzi K, Soomro S, Danthanarayana AN, Brgoch J, Nadimpalli S, Petri M, Mohan C, Willson RC., A novel technology for home monitoring of lupus nephritis that tracks the pathogenic urine biomarker ALCAM. Front Immunol. Frontiers; 13: 1044743., 2022
- Vu B, Lei R, Mohan C, Kourentzi K, Willson RC., Flash characterization of smartphones used in point-of-Care diagnostics. Biosensors. MDPI;12: 1060., 2022
- Patil U, Goyal A, Vu B, Liu Y, Maranholkar V, Kourentzi K, Briggs JM, Willson RC., Antibody mix-and-read assays based on fluorescence intensity probes. MAbs. Taylor & Francis; p. 1980178., 2021
- Chavan D, Chen H, Crum M, Vu B, Safari M, Smith M, Vekilov P, Conrad JC, Kourentzi K, Willson RC., Neutral DNA--avidin nanoparticles as ultrasensitive reporters in immuno-PCR. Analyst. Royal Society of Chemistry; 145: 4942–4949., 2020
- Danthanarayana AN, Finley E, Vu B, Kourentzi K, Willson RC, Brgoch J., A multicolor multiplex lateral flow assay for high-sensitivity analyte detection using persistent luminescent nanophosphors. Anal Methods. Royal Society of Chemistry; 12: 272–280., 2020
- Kourentzi K, Crum M, Patil U, Prebisch A, Chavan D, Vu B, Zeng Z, Litvinov D, Zu Y, Willson RC., Recombinant expression, characterization, and quantification in human cancer cell lines of the Anaplastic Large-Cell Lymphoma-characteristic NPM-ALK fusion protein. Sci Rep. Nature Publishing Group UK London; 10: 5078., 2020
- Patil U, Crum M, Vu B, Wasden K, Kourentzi K, Willson RC., Continuous Fc detection for protein A capture process control. Biosensors and Bioelectronics. Elsevier; 165: 112327., 2020
- Goux HJ, Raja B, Kourentzi K, Trabuco JRC, Vu B, Paterson AS, Kirkpatrick A, Townsend B, Lee M, Truong VTT, Others., Evaluation of a nanophosphor lateral-flow assay for self-testing for herpes simplex virus type 2 seropositivity. PLoS One. Public Library of Science San Francisco, CA USA; 14: e0225365., 2019
- Khodadadi M, Chang L, Trabuco JRC, Vu B, Kourentzi K, Willson RC, Litvinov D., PCB-based magnetometer as a platform for quantification of lateral-flow assays. Sensors. MDPI; 19: 5433., 2019
- Chen H, Crum M, Chavan D, Vu B, Kourentzi K, Willson RC., Nanoparticle-based proximity ligation assay for ultrasensitive, quantitative detection of protein biomarkers. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. American Chemical Society; 10: 31845–31849., 2018
- Jacinto MJ, Trabuco JRC, Vu B, Garvey G, Khodadady M, Azevedo AM, Aires-Barros MR, Chang L, Kourentzi K, Litvinov D, Others., Enhancement of lateral flow assay performance by electromagnetic relocation of reporter particles. PLoS One. 13: e0186782., 2018
- Luo D, Wang F, Vu B, Chen J, Bao J, Cai D, Willson RC, Ren Z. , Synthesis of graphene-based amphiphilic Janus nanosheets via manipulation of hydrogen bonding. Carbon N Y. Elsevier; 126: 105–110., 2018
- Kim J, Vu B, Kourentzi K, Willson RC, Conrad JC., Increasing binding efficiency via reporter shape and flux in a viral nanoparticle lateral-flow assay. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. American Chemical Society; 9: 6878–6884., 2017
- Liang Y-C, Chang L, Qiu W, Kolhatkar AG, Vu B, Kourentzi K, Lee TR, Zu Y, Willson R, Litvinov D., Ultrasensitive magnetic nanoparticle detector for biosensor applications. Sensors. MDPI; 17: 1296., 2017
- Paterson AS, Raja B, Mandadi V, Townsend B, Lee M, Buell A, Vu B, Brgoch J, Willson RC. , A low-cost smartphone-based platform for highly sensitive point-of-care testing with persistent luminescent phosphors. Lab Chip. Royal Society of Chemistry; 17: 1051–1059., 2017
- Qiu W, Chang L, Liang Y-C, Litvinov J, Guo J, Chen Y-T, Vu B, Kourentzi K, Xu S, Lee TR, Others., Spin-Valve based magnetoresistive nanoparticle detector for applications in biosensing. Sens Actuators A Phys. Elsevier; 265: 174–180., 2017
- Vu B, Anthony KL, Strych U, Willson RC., Recovery of small DNA fragments from serum using compaction precipitation. PLoS One. 7: e51863., 2012
- Vu B, Litvinov D, Willson RC., Gold nanoparticle effects in polymerase chain reaction: favoring of smaller products by polymerase adsorption. Anal Chem. American Chemical Society; 80: 5462–5467., 2008