LAB persons
PI

WELCOME to mHealthLAB

mobile health and sensor lab
Korea University
KU-KIST Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology
Department of Integrative Energy Engineering, College of Engineering

Greeting

What research areas does the Mobile Health & Sensor Lab focus on?

Our lab specializes in sensors, biosensors, diagnostics, and point-of-care testing (POCT) technologies. We focus on integrating deep learning algorithms with smartphones and portable readers to develop innovative mobile health solutions.
Our key research areas include:
1.
Development of AI and deep learning algorithms
2.
Application of these technologies in POCT systems
3.
Filtering and enrichment of complex biological samples
Recently, our lab has been focusing on multimodal analysis, integrative diagnostics, and connectivity-based healthcare research. We aim to innovate diagnostic technologies by leveraging multi-omics approaches and AI-driven multimodal signal analysis within the framework of "Sample-to-Answer Diagnostics".
To achieve these goals, our lab brings together researchers from diverse disciplines, including Electrical Engineering (EE), Biotechnology (BE), Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), and Mechanical Engineering (ME), to conduct truly interdisciplinary research. Additionally, we collaborate with hospitals and industry partners to develop bio-electronic convergence technologies through joint research initiatives.
Our research integrates state-of-the-art hardware technologies, such as advanced materials and device engineering, with sophisticated software solutions, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), to deliver impactful results. Furthermore, we are exploring innovative ways to incorporate biotechnology as content into IT-based platforms to develop differentiated diagnostic and healthcare solutions. The lab was founded in 2008 in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Kwangwoon University and relocated in 2025 to continue its journey in the KU-KIST Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology, and Department of Integrative Energy Engineering, College of Engineering Korea University. Our lab has recently received widespread recognition for its research excellence, including consecutive publications in Nature sisters journals, technology transfers, startup ventures, and the prestigious 2024 Korea’s Top 100 Technologies Award (Minister of Science and ICT Award).

Students We Seek to Join Our Lab “Be great, Be nice”

We value the "spirit of togetherness" and encourage students who embody this mindset. Students are expected to develop their own expertise (Be great) and practice kindness and generosity based on their capabilities (Be nice).
As our lab focuses on interdisciplinary research, we emphasize mutual respect and open communication among researchers from diverse backgrounds. These qualities are essential for fostering collaboration and innovation.

NEWS

2025/03 Congratulations to Seungmin and Jeong Soo on their New Paper! Our 115th paper, "Artificial Intelligence in Bacterial Diagnostics and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing: Current Advances and Future Prospects," is now in Biosensors & Bioelectronics. This review explores AI's role in improving bacterial diagnostics. Congratulations to all authors! (IF: 10.7, JCR Top 2.4%)
2025/03 Congratulations to Jeong Soo and Ji Hye on their New Paper! We're thrilled to share that Jeong Soo and Ji Hye's latest research has been published in Biosensors & Bioelectronics. Their Biosensors & Bioelectronics paper achieves enhanced sensitivity via flow/concentration control, solving prior binding issues. Congrats! Congratulations to all authors! (IF: 10.7, JCR Top 2.4%)
2025/03 Welcome Suh Yoon Choo! "Welcome Suh Yoon Choo to the lab! We look forward to her contributions as she pursues her Ph.D."
2025/02 Congratulations to Seungmin Lee on being awarded the 22nd Presidential Scholarship! This year, a total of 120 students were selected (50 master's and 70 doctoral students), with a highly competitive acceptance rate of approximately 25:1. Among them, only nine students (three master's and six doctoral) were selected in the Bio-Medical Convergence field. 
2025/01 It was selected as the Ministry of Science and ICT Minister's Awards and recognized as one of the Top 12 Achievements in Solving Social Issues among the Top 100 Outstanding National R&D Achievements of 2024. (과기부장관상, 국민체감 사회문제해결 성과 12선, 2024 국가연구개발 우수성과 100선에 선정되었어요)
Nov 2024: Our paper has been published in Advanced Science.  
Dr. Naeun Lee's paper, titled 'Enhancing RT-PCR Throughput and Sensitivity Through Large-Scale Sample Pooling Using a Nano-Hybrid Membrane,' has been accepted in Advanced Science! Congratulations!
During the recent pandemic, there was a high demand for group testing. For example, for large-scale entries like airplane arrivals, pooling techniques, where samples are combined and tested at once rather than individually, were proposed as an alternative. However, there were limitations to diagnosis via pooling due to equipment sensitivity, especially when 99 out of 100 people were negative, and only one was positive. This paper proposes a technology that overcomes these challenges by utilizing our Beatles technology!
2024/10 Congratulations on being selected as one of the Top 100 Outstanding National R&D Achievements! (Oct, 2024) (2024 국가연구개발 우수성과 100선에 선정되었어요)
Our paper and technology transfer achievements for 'Sample-to-answer Platform for the Clinical Evaluation of COVID-19 using a Deep Learning-assisted Smartphone-based Assay,' Nature Communications (2023) 14: 2361, have been selected as one of the top 100 national R&D achievements in South Korea for 2024!
This selection is in the interdisciplinary field and under the Ministry of Science and ICT's (Social Problem Solving Achievement) category, 'Innovation in On-site Diagnosis of Emerging Infectious Diseases Using Nano-bio Hybrid Preprocessing Technology.'
2024/07 Lab Outing (July 09, 2024)
The lab members enjoyed a lab outing together. I didn't realize there were places like this in Seoul. Jeong Soo Park won the lucky ladder raffle (dinner for two, sponsored by Professor Jeong Hoon Lee)
May 17, 2024: Congratulations to Naeun Lee on successfully defending her PhD!
Congratulations on successfully completing your Ph.D. thesis, titled 'Biological Sample Enrichment using Nano-Hybrid Membrane for Advanced Molecular Diagnostics'! Well done on finishing your research
May 9, 2024: Presented at the tutorial session during the Spring Conference of KOSOMBE.
Hyowon Woo and Jeong Soo Park assisted with the lab practice on Deep Learning and POCT Basics, and Mobile Healthcare Deep Learning Applications. :-)
April 2024: Our lab's PhD student, Seungmin Lee, has been proudly selected as the first recipient of the Presidential Science Scholarship.
March 2024: Dr. Dohwan Lee, a former member of our lab, has been appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Kwangwoon University.
March 2024: Our paper has been published in Nature Communications.  
The research by Dr. Dongtak Lee and student Hyogi Jeong, titled 'Bioengineered amyloid peptide for rapid screening of inhibitors against main protease of SARS-CoV-2' Nat Commun 15, 2108 (2024), has been published in Nature Communications. This model uses nanoparticles to screen drugs for diseases like COVID-19.
February 2024: Our paper has been published in Analytical Chemistry.
The research by student Naeun Lee, titled 'Enhancing Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification through Nonpowered Nanoelectric Preconcentration' Anal. Chem. 2024, 96, 9, 3844–3852, has been published in Analytical Chemistry. This research enables on-site molecular diagnostics through a nanoelectronic preconcentration system.
Enhancing Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification through Nonpowered Nanoelectric Preconcentration
The global threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic has catalyzed the development of point-of-care (POC) molecular diagnostics. While loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) stands out as a promising technique among FDA-approved methods, it is occasionally susceptible to a high risk of false positives due to nonspecific amplification of a primer dimer. In this work, we report an enhancing LAMP technique in terms of assay sensitivity and reliability through streamlined integration with a nonpowered nanoelectric preconcentration (NPP). The NPP, serving as a sample preparation tool, enriched the virus concentration in samples prior to the subsequent LAMP assay. This enrichment enabled not only to achieve more sensitive assay but also to shorten the assay time for all tested clinical samples by ∼10 min compared to the conventional LAMP. The shortened assay time suppresses the occurrence of nonspecific amplification by not providing the necessary incubation time, effectively suppressing misidentification by false positives. Utilizing this technique, we also developed a prototype of the POC NPP-LAMP kit. This kit offers a streamlined diagnostic process for nontrained individuals, from the sample enrichment, transfer of the enriched sample to LAMP assays, which facilitates on-site/on-demand diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2. This development holds the potential to contribute toward preventing not only the current outbreak but also future occurrences of pandemic viruses.
February 2024: Our paper has been published in Nature Communications.
The research by Seungmin Lee, Jeong Soo Park, and Hyowon Woo, titled 'Rapid Deep Learning-Assisted Predictive Diagnostics for Point-of-Care Testing' Nature Communications (2024) 15:1695, has been published in Nature Communications. This is a groundbreaking technology that can complete diagnoses that typically take several hours in just 1-2 minutes through a completely novel time-series deep learning approach.
January 2024: Congratulations to Juhwan and Yeonjeong on starting their Master’s program!
In 2023, Ju-hwan and Yeon-jeong each completed approximately six months as undergraduate researchers. Subsequently, they enrolled in the Master's program. They started their Master's studies from the spring semester of 2024
July 2023: Technology transfer of 1.5 billion KRW (BEETLES)
2023-07-31 하이브리드세포막을 이용한 비틀즈 기술이 기술이전 되었어요. 기술이전 액수는 15억원입니다. 우리 실험실에서 개발한 세포막을 이용한 샘플 전처리 시스템 (BEETLES^2)의 특허가 (주)켈스에 총 15억의 금액으로 기술이전되었습니다.
단일 특허 이전액으로는 실험실 자체 최대 금액입니다. 기반이 되는 기술은 Nature Communications| (2023)14:1520이며, 두건의 특허를 포함한 기술이 이전되었습니다.
의의: 본 특허는 면역진단있어서 민감도를 크게 향상시키는 기술로서, 실제 전처리 기술만으로 PCR등의 분자진단 민감도를 확보했다는데 그 의의가 있습니다. 또한 면역진단에 국한된것이 아닌, 분자진단의 전처리로서도 그 가능성이 매우 크며, 아주 새로운 고성능 전처리 시스템(농축/필터)의 영역의 가능성을 입증하였습니다.
May 2023: Lab alumni gathering
졸업생들의 사회생활을 응원합니다!
이경재 학생은 FuriosaAI로 자리를 옮겼네요. AI GPU 만드는 유망업체라고 하네요.
April 2023: Our paper has been published in Nature Communications.
“Sample-to-answer Platform for the Clinical Evaluation of COVID-19 using a Deep Learning-assisted Smartphone-based Assay,” Nature Communications (2023)14: 2361
이승민, 김선목 학생과 여러 친구들이 함께 연구한 결과가 네이쳐 커뮤니케이션에 출판되었습니다.
의의: 딥러닝 알고리즘을 통해 처음으로 스마프폰의 기종, 래피드키트 종류, 조명, 환경에 영향을 받지 않고 현장진단이 가능한 최조의 결과를 보고하였습니다.
March 2023: Our paper has been published in Nature Communications.
"PCR-like Performance of Rapid Test with Permselective Tunable Nanotrap," Nature Communications(2023)14:1520
박성준, 이승민, 이동택 박사가 주도적으로 연구를 시행하였습니다.
의의: 현장진단 및 분자진단에 있어서 PCR과 같은 증폭없이 나노하이브리드 비틀즈 멤브레인만을 통해 빠르고 효율적으로 농축가능하며, 이를 통해 민감도를 혁신적으로 올릴수 있는 소자 및 시스템을 개발하였다는데 큰 의의가 있습니다.
January 2023: A gathering of UROP students and lab members.
November 2022: Smartphone AI technology has been transferred.
스마트폰을 활용한 AI기술의 기술이전이 완료되었습니다.
기술이전 금액은 1.2억입니다. 추가 최적화를 통해 상용화 예정입니다.
June 2022: Our COVID-19 diagnostics research has been published in Biosensors and Bioelectronics (BSBE).
Nanoelectrokinetic-assisted lateral flow assay for COVID-19 antibody test
November 2021: CALTH Inc. was listed on the KONEX.
공동창업 기업인 (주)켈스 CALTH Inc. 가 코넥스 시장에 상장하였습니다.
코넥스시장은 코스피, 코스닥과 함께 제3의 거래시장입니다. 코넥스를 발판삼아 코스닥 상장을 도전합니다!
2008 by mobile health & sensor lab (mHealthLab)