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Expert has been doing fundamental and applied research in fluid mechanics for about 30 years and in micro fluidics for 20 years. In the last 19 years, Expert has been a Professor of Physics, running an experimental research group specializing in the design, fabrication, and application of micro devices and new techniques for biomedical research. Expert’s lab has collaborated with >30 biological laboratories in USA, and abroad, developing optimized instrumentation, techniques, and turn-key solutions for cutting edge biological experiments, involving a variety of prokaryotic, eukaryotic, and mammalian cells and model organisms. In many cases, specific instruments and techniques developed by Expert have been used in multiple laboratories in parallel.

Expert has introduced multiple original methods and solved a variety of practical problems in a broad range of biological experiments and assays. Expert has authored more than 100 original research papers and 5 US patents. Some of the recent areas of Expert’s activity are listed below.
• Formulation and preparation of silicone gel substrates with a broad range of elastic moduli mimicking soft animal tissues for test on rigidity sensing and for traction force microscopy of adherent mammalian cells. The silicone gels have a high refractive index, enabling, for the first time, through-the-objective TIRF microscopy of adherent cells on soft substrates.
• Microwell devices for imaging of non-adherent cells, yeast, and HIV-infected CD4+ human T lymphocytes, including C. elegans eggs.
• Microwell devices for imaging of zebrafish embryos
• A number of devices and techniques to impose and control oxygen tension in cell cultures. Most recently, a technique to effectively control the oxygen tension and apply hypoxic conditions to cell cultures in standard 24-, 48- and 96-well plates.
• Two novel pneumatic gene guns for shock-free biolistic delivery of nucleic acids and dyes into deep layers of tissues (and small model animals) using micron-size carrier particles.
• A variety of perfusion chambers for different experiments on cells: adhesion of platelets, shear stress response of endothelial cells, rolling of leukocytes, circadian rhythms of paramecium, and stress response of
bioluminescent plankton.
• A novel platform for immobilization of C. elegans worms for high-resolution imaging by adjustable transient squeezing with a microfabricated chip.
• Microfluidic devices for culturing bacteria and yeast.
• Microfluidic devices for gradient response of neutrophils and social amoebas, and budding yeast.
• Microfluidic devices with linear gradients of temperature and oxygen concentration for high-throughput experiments on aerotaxis and thermotaxis of E. coli bacteria.
• A series of microfluidic devices for studies on kinetics and thermodynamics of protein folding using FRET microscopy.