David A. Weitz

Research Statement

AI generated · 1d ago

David A. Weitz's indexed work centers on soft-matter physics and microfluidics, with foundational contributions to monodisperse double emulsions generated in microcapillary devices and colloidosomes as selectively permeable capsules of colloidal particles, each cited over two thousand times. Related studies image structural relaxation near the colloidal glass transition and nucleation and growth during colloidal crystallization in real space, while other highly cited work reports frequency-dependent viscoelastic moduli of complex fluids and the elastic behavior of cross-linked and bundled actin networks. A parallel thread applies droplet-based systems to biology, including ultrahigh-throughput screening for directed evolution. Middle-author contributions extend this droplet toolkit into genomics, notably highly parallel genome-wide expression profiling of individual cells using nanoliter droplets and droplet barcoding for single-cell transcriptomics in embryonic stem cells, alongside a protocols paper on single-cell analysis and sorting using droplet-based microfluidics. No software, datasets, patents, or grants are indexed beyond these publications. Across the listed works, the through-line is a shift from characterizing soft-matter and colloidal physics toward engineering droplet platforms that others, including David J. Mooney, can apply to biological measurement.

Most Cited Works

Microfluidic fabrication of microparticles for biomedical applications

Wen Li, Liyuan Zhang, Xuehui Ge, Biyi Xu, Weixia Zhang, Liangliang Qu, Chang-Hyung Choi, Jianhong Xu, Afang Zhang, Hyomin Lee, David A Weitz

Chemical Society Reviews2018

587Citations

An outlook on microfluidics: the promise and the challenge

Sarah Battat, David A Weitz, George M Whitesides

Lab on a Chip2022

Research Areas

Innovative Microfluidic and Catalytic TeMaterial Dynamics and PropertiesRheology and Fluid Dynamics StudiesPickering emulsions and particle stabiliCellular Mechanics and Interactions

Affiliations & Education

Education

1977–2026
Harvard University(US)
A.M. · Physics
1973
University of Waterloo(CA)
B.Sc. · Honors Physics

Employment

2005–present· now
Harvard University John A Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences(US)

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