Contact Information
Urbana, IL 61801
Biography
Professor Han obtained her B.S. degree in Chemistry from the College of Natural Sciences at Seoul National University, Korea, where she graduated summa cum laude and as a Valedictorian. After college, she moved to Cambridge, USA to pursue graduate work in Physical Chemistry at MIT as a Samsung and KASF fellow. Under the guidance of Prof. Moungi G. Bawendi, she developed new quantum dot based imaging probes and a QD-based, phenotypic, intravital cytometric imaging platform. She then moved to Harvard to work with Prof. David A. Weitz as a postdoctoral fellow. At Harvard, she developed a drop-based microfluidic platform for high throughput genome sequencing. Han is currently the Mark A. Pytosh Scholar and Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Her group develops and implements new bioanalytical technologies to dissect molecular and cellular mechanisms driving the ensemble behavior of complex biological systems.
Research Interests
In situ single cell omics, Spatial transcriptomics, Bioimaging, Drop microfluidics, Neurobiology
Research Description
Professor Hee-Sun Han’s group invents new bioanalytical technologies and implements them to unveil the molecular and cellular mechanisms driving the ensemble behaviors of native biological systems. The main technologies that her group develops include multiscale, multimodal imaging platforms and droplet microfluidics-based single-cell sequencing platforms.
The in situ single-cell omics technology that Han develops has immense implications in systems biology. It aims to establish a comprehensive map of RNA/DNA/protein molecules within every cell in intact tissues at single-molecule resolution. With this technology, researchers can identify the cell type and state of individual cells (based on gene/protein expression) while probing how they are spatially organized within a tissue. The spatial architecture of molecules and cells is closely tied to their functional networks. Therefore, such a map provides critical insight into molecular and cellular interactions and how individual biological components collectively contribute to system-level functions.
On the neurobiology front, the Han lab applies the imaging-based spatial transcriptomics technology to:
- Map how different cell types are spatially organized in intact brains from various organisms.
- Study how cells are spatially regulated to specify unique functions.
- Examine how the spatially resolved transcriptional landscape is altered in brains with neurological diseases.
The Han lab also develops a single-cell resolution multi-omic imaging platform to characterize multiple molecular species simultaneously in intact brains. In addition to developing imaging platforms and analysis methodologies, we extensively collaborate with neurobiologists for in-depth biological studies.
Education
Harvard University: Postdoc in Physics/Applied Physics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry
Seoul National University: B.S. in Chemistry
Awards and Honors
Johnson & Johnson WiSTEM2D Scholars Award for Science (2021)
Mark A. Pytosh Scholar (2017)
KFAS Scholar in Chemistry (2006-2012)
Samsung Scholar in Chemistry (2006-2011)
Valedictorian, Summa Cum Laude, Seoul National University (2006)
Representative of Korea in Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting (2006)
KFAS Scholar for undergraduate study (2004-2006)
Courses Taught
Chem 520: Advanced Analytical Chemistry
Additional Campus Affiliations
Assistant Professor, Chemistry
Faculty member, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology
Faculty member, Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology
External Links
Highlighted Publications
Han, H. S., Cantalupo, P. G., Rotem, A., Cockrell, S. K., Carbonnaux, M., Pipas, J. M., & Weitz, D. A. (2015). Whole-Genome Sequencing of a Single Viral Species from a Highly Heterogeneous Sample. Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 54(47), 13985-13988. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201507047
Han, H. S., Niemeyer, E., Huang, Y., Kamoun, W. S., Martin, J. D., Bhaumik, J., Chen, Y., Roberge, S., Cui, J., Martin, M. R., Fukumura, D., Jainb, R. K., Bawendi, M. G., & Duda, D. G. (2015). Quantum dot/antibody conjugates for in vivo cytometric imaging in mice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112(5), 1350-1355. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1421632111
Chen, O., Zhao, J., Chauhan, V. P., Cui, J., Wong, C., Harris, D. K., Wei, H., Han, H. S., Fukumura, D., Jain, R. K., & Bawendi, M. G. (2013). Compact high-quality CdSe-CdS core-shell nanocrystals with narrow emission linewidths and suppressed blinking. Nature Materials, 12(5), 445-451. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3539
Han, H. S., Martin, J. D., Lee, J., Harris, D. K., Fukumura, D., Jain, R. K., & Bawendi, M. (2013). Spatial charge configuration regulates nanoparticle transport and binding behavior in vivo. Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 52(5), 1414-1419. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201208331
Wei, H., Insin, N., Lee, J., Han, H. S., Cordero, J. M., Liu, W., & Bawendi, M. G. (2012). Compact zwitterion-coated iron oxide nanoparticles for biological applications. Nano letters, 12(1), 22-25. https://doi.org/10.1021/nl202721q
Harris, D. K., Allen, P. M., Han, H. S., Walker, B. J., Lee, J., & Bawendi, M. G. (2011). Synthesis of cadmium arsenide quantum dots luminescent in the infrared. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 133(13), 4676-4679. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja1101932
Han, H. S., Devaraj, N. K., Lee, J., Hilderbrand, S. A., Weissleder, R., & Bawendi, M. G. (2010). Development of a bioorthogonal and highly efficient conjugation method for quantum dots using tetrazine-norbornene cycloaddition. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 132(23), 7838-7839. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja101677r
Recent Publications
Jankelow, A., Chen, C. L., Cowell, T. W., Espinosa de los Monteros, J., Bian, Z., Kindratenko, V., Koprowski, K., Darsi, S., Han, H. S., Valera, E., & Bashir, R. (Accepted/In press). Multiplexed electrical detection of whole viruses from plasma in a microfluidic platform. Analyst, 149(4), 1190-1201. https://doi.org/10.1039/d3an01510f
Chen, A., Zhu, L., Han, H. S., & Arai, Y. (2023). Spectroscopic Investigation of Phosphorus Mineralization as Affected by the Calcite-Water Interfacial Chemistry. Environmental Science and Technology, 57(43), 16606-16615. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c06364
Cowell, T., & Han, H. S. (2023). Double Emulsion Flow Cytometry for Rapid Single Genome Detection. In Methods in Molecular Biology (pp. 155-167). (Methods in Molecular Biology; Vol. 2689). Humana Press Inc.. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3323-6_12
Miller, R. C., Lee, J., Kim, Y. J., Han, H. S., & Kong, H. (2023). In-Drop Thermal Cycling of Microcrystal Assembly for Senescence Control with Minimal Variation in Efficacy. Advanced Functional Materials, 33(37), Article 2302232. https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202302232
Valera, E., Kindratenko, V., Jankelow, A. M., Heredia, J., Kim, A. Y., Cowell, T. W., Chen, C. L., White, K., Han, H. S., & Bashir, R. (2023). Electrochemical point-of-care devices for the diagnosis of sepsis. Current Opinion in Electrochemistry, 39, Article 101300. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coelec.2023.101300