Science and Engineering Council of Santa Barbara
August Luncheon
at
The Elephant Bar Restaurant
Thursday, August 11, 2005 12:00-1:30 PM

What can Moore's Law Do for Medicine?

Gordon Moore made his famous observation about the doubling of transistor density 40 years ago. The economics of "batch fabrication" is perhaps the most important factor contributing to the realization of Moore's law. Since all the components on a chip can be made in parallel, the cost per device is exponentially reduced.

Today, we are in the midst of another revolution, driven by our emerging understanding of the molecular basis of life and its relationship to human disease. However, translating this to useful diagnostics or therapies poses significant challenges. Many therapies have shown dramatic results in research trials, but cannot be translated to clinical use due to technological and economic barriers. Dr. Soh will describe his lab's work on using massively parallel, on-chip systems to solve biotechnological problems. He will focus on the development of a disposable, ultrahigh-performance cell-sorting chip.

------PRESENTER------

H.T. Soh, Ph.D.
Professor of Mechanical and Environmental Engineering, UCSB

Dr. Soh is a professor in the Mechanical & Environmental Engineering Department at UCSB. Before joining UCSB, Dr. Soh served as the technical manager of MEMS device research group at Bell Laboratories and the MEMS R&D group at Agere Systems. He received the 2002 MIT World's Top 100 Innovator Award and a number of other awards. Dr. Soh received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and a B.S. with a double major in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science from Cornell University.

------OTHER INFO------

$14 for SEC members; $19 for non-members.
Information: Barbara Keaney (E-mail: scieng@silcom.com or call 805-684-4927).
Reservations NOT required.
Elephant Bar Restaurant: 521 Firestone Road.
Website: http://www.scieng.org

From the President: Summer greetings! Luncheon presentations in the biomedical field and the mechanical engineering field have always been popular with our members. This month we are featuring a speaker who combines both disciplines in new systems that solve biotechnological problems. Be sure to mark your calendar.

Tim Murphy