Tuan Vo-Dinh (Vietnamese: Võ Đình Tuấn) (

Nha Trang Nha Trang ( or ; ) is a coastal city and capital of Khánh Hòa Province, on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is bounded on the north by Ninh Hòa District, Ninh Hoà town, on the south by Cam Ranh city and on the west by Diên Khánh Distri ...

, 11 April 1948) is R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Professor of

Biomedical Engineering Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare purposes (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic). BME is also traditionally logical sciences ...

at the

Duke University Pratt School of Engineering The Pratt School of Engineering is located at Duke University in the United States. The school's associated research, education, alumni and service-to-society efforts are collectively known as Duke Engineering. Research expenditures at Duke Engin ...

and professor of

Chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

and director of the Fitzpatrick Institute for

Photonics Photonics is a branch of optics that involves the application of generation, detection, and manipulation of light in form of photons through emission, transmission, modulation, signal processing, switching, amplification, and sensing. Though ...

at Duke.

Early Years and Education

Born in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

, he earned his doctorate in

biophysical Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations. Bi ...

chemistry at the

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology The Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology are two institutes of higher education in Switzerland (part of the ETH Domain): * Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Swiss people ...

in Zurich in 1975 and emigrated to the United States in 1975. He researched at

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a U.S. multiprogram science and technology national laboratory sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and administered, managed, and operated by UT–Battelle as a federally funded research and ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

as director of Center for Advanced Biomedical Photonics, and was professor at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

and the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

, (

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state's ...

), before coming to Duke in March 2006.

Research

He specializes in

photonics Photonics is a branch of optics that involves the application of generation, detection, and manipulation of light in form of photons through emission, transmission, modulation, signal processing, switching, amplification, and sensing. Though ...

, the physical science of light. His research activities and interests include

biophotonics The term biophotonics denotes a combination of biology and photonics, with photonics being the science and technology of generation, manipulation, and detection of photons, quantum units of light. Photonics is related to electronics and photons. P ...

, nanophotonics, plasmonics, laser-excited luminescence spectroscopy, room-temperature phosphorimetry, synchronous luminescence spectroscopy, surface-enhanced

Raman spectroscopy Raman spectroscopy () (named after Indian physicist C. V. Raman) is a spectroscopic technique typically used to determine vibrational modes of molecules, although rotational and other low-frequency modes of systems may also be observed. Raman sp ...

, field environmental instrumentation,

fiber optics An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means to ...

sensors, nanosensors,

biosensors A biosensor is an analytical device, used for the detection of a chemical substance, that combines a biological component with a physicochemical detector. The ''sensitive biological element'', e.g. tissue, microorganisms, organelles, cell recep ...

and biochips for the protection of the environment and the improvement of human health. He pioneered the development of a new generation of gene probes using surface-enhanced

Raman scattering Raman scattering or the Raman effect () is the inelastic scattering of photons by matter, meaning that there is both an exchange of energy and a change in the light's direction. Typically this effect involves vibrational energy being gained by a ...

(SERS) detection with ‘Molecular Sentinels’ and Plasmonic Coupling Interference (PCI) molecular probes for multiplex and label-free detection of nucleic acid

biomarkers In biomedical contexts, a biomarker, or biological marker, is a measurable indicator of some biological state or condition. Biomarkers are often measured and evaluated using blood, urine, or soft tissues to examine normal biological processes, p ...

( DNA,

mRNA In molecular biology, messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) is a single-stranded molecule of RNA that corresponds to the genetic sequence of a gene, and is read by a ribosome in the process of Protein biosynthesis, synthesizing a protein. mRNA is ...

microRNA MicroRNA (miRNA) are small, single-stranded, non-coding RNA molecules containing 21 to 23 nucleotides. Found in plants, animals and some viruses, miRNAs are involved in RNA silencing and post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. miRN ...

) in early detection of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

. His research group is developing a photothermal immunotherapy technology that uses lasers and

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

nanostars to heat up and destroy tumors, in combination with an immunotherapeutic drug.

Recognition

He was ranked No. 43 on a list of the world's top 100 living geniuses in a survey conducted by Creators Synectics, a global consultants firm. He was elected to the

National Academy of Inventors The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) is a US non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging inventors in academia, following the model of the National Academies of the United States. It was founded at the University of South Florida in 2010. ...

in 2017. In May 2019, he received the

Sir George Stokes Award The Sir George Stokes Award (colloquially the Stokes Medal) is named after George Gabriel Stokes and is awarded biennially by the Analytical Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry. It was established in 1999 to recognize the multidisciplinary ...

from the

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society (professional association) in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the Ro ...

in recognition of "outstanding and sustained contributions to analytical science through innovations in the field of photonics, spectroscopy, molecular biology and nanotechnology."

Patents

*T. Vo-Dinh, "Dosimeter for Monitoring Vapors and Aerosols of Organic Compounds," U.S. Patent No. 4,680,165 (1987). *T. Vo-Dinh, "Practical Substrate and Apparatus for Static and Continuous Monitoring by Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy," U.S. Patent No. 4,674,878 (1987). *T. Vo-Dinh, "Surface-Enhanced Raman Optical Data Storage," U.S. Patent No. 4,999,810 (1991). *M. J. Sepaniak and T. Vo-Dinh, "Fiber Optic-Based Regenerable Biosensor," U.S. Patent No. 5,176,881 (1993). *T. Vo-Dinh, "Enhanced Photo Activated Luminescence for Screening Polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) and Other Related Compounds," U.S. Patent 5,272,089 (1993). *T. Vo-Dinh, "Raman-Based System for DNA Sequencing, Mapping and Other Separations," U.S. Patent 5,306,403 (1994). *T. Vo-Dinh, "Improved Surface-Enhanced Raman Optical Data Storage System," U.S. Patent 5,325,342 (1994). *T. Vo-Dinh, "Apparatus and Methods for Detecting Chemical Permeation," US Patent 5,376,554 (1994). *T. Vo-Dinh, EPAL Apparatus for Screening Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs), and Other Chlorinated Compounds," US Patent 5,318,751 (1994). *T. Vo-Dinh, "Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) Dosimeter and Probe," U.S. Patent 5,400,136 (1995). *T. Vo-Dinh, "Article of Protective Clothing Adapted for Detecting Chemical Permeation and Methods Therapy," US Patent 5,493,730 (1996). *T. Vo-Dinh, "Photo-activated Luminescence Sensor and Method for Detecting Trichloroethoplene and Related Volatile Organochloride Compounds," US Patent 5,525,520 (1996). *T. Vo-Dinh and P. Viallet, "Biosensor and Chemical Sensors Probes for Calcium and Other Metal Ions," US Patent 5,496,522 (1996). *T. Vo-Dinh, M. Panjehpour and B.F. Overholt, "Laser-Induced Differential Normalized Fluorescence Method for Cancer Diagnosis," US Patent 5,579,773 (1996). *T. Vo-Dinh, "Advanced Synchronous Luminescence System for Medical Diagnostics," US Patent 5,599,717 (1997). *T. Vo-Dinh, "Raman and Surface-Enhanced Raman Gene Probe and Detection System," US Patent 5,721,102 (1998). *T. Vo-Dinh, "Advanced Surface-Enhanced Raman Gene Probes and Method Thereof," US Patent 5,783,389 (1998) *T. Vo-Dinh, "Advanced Surface-Enhanced Raman Gene Probes and Method Thereof," US Patent 5,814,516 (1998). *T. Vo-Dinh, "Surface-Enhanced Raman Medical Probes and System for Disease Diagnostics and Drug Testing," US Patent 5,864,397 (1999). *T. Vo-Dinh, "Advanced Synchronous Luminescence System for the Detection of Biological Agents and Infectious Pathogens," US Patent 5,938,617 (1999). *T. Vo-Dinh, "Advanced Surface-enhanced Raman Gene Probe Systems and Methods thereof," US Patent 6,174,677 (2001). *T. Vo-Dinh, N. Erickson, and A.L. Wintenberg, "Integrated Circuit Biochip Microsystem Containing Lens," US Patent 6,197,503 (2001). *T. Vo-Dinh and S. Norton, "Method and apparatus of spectro-acoustically enhanced ultrasonic detection for diagnostics," US Patent 6,212,421 (2001). *T. Vo-Dinh, "Nanoprobe for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy in medical diagnostic and drug screening," US Patent 6,219,137 (2001). *T. Vo-Dinh and A. Sadana, "Fractal Analysis of Time Varying Data," US Patent 6,422,998 (2002). *T. Vo-Dinh, N. Erickson, and A.L. Wintenberg, "Integrated Circuit Biochip Microsystem" US Patent 6,448,064 B1 (2002) *T. Vo-Dinh "SERODS Optical Data Storage with Parallel Signal Transfer", US Patent 6,583,397 (2003). *T. Vo-Dinh "SERODS Optical Data Storage with Parallel Signal Transfer", US Patent 6,614,730 (2003). *T. Vo-Dinh "Multifunctional and Multispectral Biosensor and Methods of Use", US Patent 6,743,581 (2004). *T. Vo-Dinh and M .Hajaligol "Monitoring of Vapor Phase Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons", US Patent 6,744,503 (2004). *T. Vo-Dinh and A.L. Wintenberg "Integrated Tunable Optical System" (US Patent 6,965,431 (2004). *T. Vo-Dinh, "Advanced Synchronous Luminescence Imaging for Chemical and Medical Diagnostics", US Patent 7,103,402 (2006).

Books

*Vo-Dinh T., Room Temperature Phosphorimetry for Chemical Analysis, Wiley Interscience, New York (1984). *Vo-Dinh T., Editor, Chemical Analysis of Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds, Wiley, New York (1989). *Vo-Dinh T. and Eastwood D.L., Editors, Laser-Based Approaches in Luminescence Spectroscopy, ASTM Publishers, Philadelphia (1990). *Vo-Dinh T., Editor-in-chief, Biomedical Photonics Handbook, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL (2003). *Gauglitz G. and Vo-Dinh T., Editors, Handbook of Spectroscopy, Wiley-VCH, New York (2003). *Vo-Dinh T., Editor, Protein Nanotechnology, Humana Press, New York, (in press).

References

External links

Official bio of Tuan Vo-Dinh
at

Vo-Dinh Research GroupThree Duke Biomedical Engineers Elected to National Academy of Inventors
December 2017

, May 2002 * ttps://web.archive.org/web/20031022132340/http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/vodinh.html Inventor of the Week Archive: Tuan Vo-Dinh

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, 1996
Dr. Tuan Vo-Dinh to serve on new international journal as editorial board member
, Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Communications and External Relations. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vo-Dinh, Tuan 1948 births Living people Vietnamese community activists Vietnamese biologists Vietnamese emigrants to the United States Duke University faculty American biomedical engineers People from Nha Trang