Kang Works with Students to Pioneer New Technology
BME associate professor DongKyun Kang, meets with his students daily to make sure they are on track with their projects and, most importantly for them, feeling confident in their training. Dr. Kang, a UArizona Cancer Center and BIO5 Institute member, works with his students to design and create each of the handcrafted instruments lining his lab’s hydraulic table.
“In our lab, it's like one big supportive family,” said Jingwei Zhao, a doctoral student from China in the College of Optical Sciences. “The atmosphere is super friendly and healthy. We collaborate on projects, help each other out with research questions, and share our expertise in areas like optics, mechanical design, electronics, coding, and public speaking.”
Dr. Kang has volumes to teach his students in microscopy that he gained through his NIH-sponsored projects on developing smartphone confocal microscopy devices for skin and cervical cancer diagnosis both in Uganda and Arizona.
“For every technology or device that my lab pioneered in the field, there is a team of dedicated students,” Dr. Kang said. “My students do awesome jobs developing affordable optical imaging devices for medical applications. They cover the entire spectrum of device development, ranging from concept design, optomechanical design, software development, building and testing, and finally clinical testing.”