Dr. Thomas Lee received his bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 1998, 2000, and 2003, respectively. He worked on PCR microchip and electrochemical DNA sensors under the supervision of Prof. I-Ming Hsing. In 2004, he joined Prof. Joseph Wang’s group in New Mexico State University and Arizona State University as a postdoc and worked on inorganic nanocrystals-based electrochemical sensor for single-base mismatches detection as well as aptamer-based electrochemical sensor for protein detection. In 2005, he returned to Prof. I-Ming Hsing’s group and worked on electrochemical real-time PCR. In 2006, he joined The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) biomedical engineering program as an Assistant Professor. He is now an Associate Professor and his current research focus is on nucleic acid testing in point-of-care and field settings by means of novel colorimetric nanoprobes.

Dr. Thomas Lee’s research focuses on the surface functionalization of nanomaterials (e.g., gold nanoparticles and quantum dots) for closed-tube monitoring of DNA amplification reactions (both isothermal and thermocycling methods). His research team aims to achieve point-of-care and on-site nucleic acid testing. He also works on nanomaterial-based enzyme mimetics (e.g., platinum nanoparticles supported on reduced graphene oxide with peroxidase-like activity) for colorimetric nucleic acid detection.