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Freeman Lan
Freeman Lan
Freeman Lan | HBSc (Toronto), PhD (UC Berkeley/UCSF)
Assistant Professor
Institute of Biomedical Engineering
Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering
Email: freeman.lan@utoronto.ca
Website: Lan Lab
Dr. Freeman Lan is an Assistant Professor in the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto and a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigator at the Scientific Interfaces. His laboratory develops ultrahigh-throughput microfluidic, genomic, and synthetic biology technologies to understand and engineer microbiomes. Before joining the University of Toronto, he completed postdoctoral training at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and worked in the biotechnology industry developing sequencing technologies. He earned his PhD in Bioengineering from the UC Berkeley–UCSF Joint Graduate Program.
Research Team: <10 trainees
Facilities: Microfluidic device fabrication; droplet generation, manipulation, and imaging; aerobic and anaerobic microbial culture; molecular biology and microbial genomics.
Research
The Lan Lab develops technologies to study microbiomes at ultrahigh-throughput. We use droplets as miniature bioreactors to perform millions of parallel experiments for single-cell sequencing, functional screening, and phenotypic testing. These approaches allow us to resolve microbial heterogeneity, connect antimicrobial-resistance genes to their microbial hosts, characterize interactions within complex communities, and develop strategies for engineering microbiomes and next-generation probiotics. We also develop accessible microfluidic fabrication methods and scalable droplet-generation systems that make these technologies easier to manufacture and adopt.
