Dieter Trau’s Biography
Dieter Trau, Associate Professor, University of Singapore
Dieter Trau holds an engineering degree (Dipl. Ing. FH) from the Aachen University of Applied Science, 1994 in Chemical and Bioengineering and a PhD degree from the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (HKUST), 2001 in Chemistry. He worked as a Research Engineer in Germany from 1994 to 1998 and started his entrepreneurial activities with the foundation of the biotechnology companies Xantec in Muenster (1995), 8sens biognostic in Berlin, Germany (2000), AYOXXA Pte Ltd in Singapore (2010) and Tip Biosystems Pte Ltd in Singapore in 2014. After completion of his PhD he was a Research Fellow, then Assistant Lecturer and later Assistant Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology from 2001 to 2004. In January 2004 he joined the Division of Bioengineering and the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS) as an Assistant Professor. He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2013. Dr. Trau’s research interest is in the area of encapsulation technologies, bioanalytics, biosensors and microdevices. In his interdisciplinary work he combines microfabrication, encapsulation technology, surface/colloidal chemistry and molecular biology to develop novel analytical techniques and devices. Dr Trau is author of >50 international peer reviewed research papers and inventor of 17 patent families resulting in more than 80 patent applications of which 20 are granted and commercialized by different companies.
PERSONAL PHOTOMETER “PHOTOPETTE” WITH “LAB-IN-A-TIP” TECHNOLOGY FOR LIFE-SCIENCE APPLICATIONS
Here, we introduce two novel concepts, a personal photometer “PHOTOPETTE” combined with “Lab-in-a-Tip” technology. The “Lab-in-a-Tip” is based on colorimetric reactions of an analyte with a reagent incorporated into a disposable polymer tip. The “PHOTOPETTE” is used for optical read out. Less sample volume required and on-spot detection are the advantages of this technology. We demonstrated pH and protein measurements in our “Lab-in-a-Tip design”. The work was conducted in collaboration with Tip Biosystems Pte Ltd. (This work is supported by National Research Foundation Singapore, NRF2014NRF-POC002-045).