2/24/2012
Brian T. Cunningham, a professor of electrical and computer engineering (ECE) and of bioengineering (BioE), was named a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).
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Brian T. Cunningham, a professor of electrical and computer engineering (ECE) and of bioengineering (BioE), was named a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).
"Biosensors can detect the presence and the amount of a biological substance, like proteins, cells, virus particles, or bacteria,” explained Cunningham, who is also a researcher in the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory at Illinois. “For applications like point-of-care medical diagnosis, pharmaceutical research, and environmental monitoring, photonic crystal sensors have to be inexpensive enough to be single use disposable items.”
He and his research group have been developing ways to make the photonic crystals with inexpensive manufacturing approaches, while at the same time providing very high sensitivity for applications that include cancer diagnosis. The team currently has multiple biosensors projects in the works.
“One involves making a tiny chip that can detect twenty biomarkers for breast cancer in a single drop of blood. We’re developing that as a rapid analysis system that can confirm or refute the results of a positive mammogram and determine if a biopsy is really necessary,” he added.
An Illinois' alumnus, Cunningham received his bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD from electrical and computer engineering in 1986, 1987, and 1990, respectively. After working in industry for 15 years, he returned to Engineering at Illinois as a faculty member.
“I never considered being a faculty member at any school besides Illinois,” he said. “The facilities here are fantastic, the faculty is really great, the students are great, so there’s really no better place than Illinois to come and be a professor.”
In addition to these honors, Cunningham has received the Medical Scholars Program Outstanding Advisor Award in 2010, the Engineering Council Award for Excellence in Advising in 2010, and an Army Research Fellowship from 1987-1990. He was recently named an IEEE Fellow.
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Contact: Brian Cunningham, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 217/333-0925.
Tom Moone, communications coordinator, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 217/244-9893.
Writer: Heather Punke, ECE ILLINOIS
If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Rick Kubetz, editor, Engineering Communications Office, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 217/244-7716.