Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory
Gao Lab · CUHK Biomedical Engineering
Welcome to the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory (MDL), where our team dedicates multidisciplinary efforts across biomedical engineering, materials science, and nanotechnology to push the boundaries of molecular diagnostics and wearable health monitoring.
Motivated by the vision of bringing laboratory-grade diagnostics to the point of care, we develop electronic nanobiosensors and wearable electrochemical sensors built on atomically thin materials. Our work is anchored in two questions: how can we engineer two-dimensional materials and their van der Waals heterostructures to transduce molecular recognition into electrical signals with ultimate sensitivity? And how can we translate these devices into scalable, wearable platforms for continuous, real-time monitoring of human health?
We welcome researchers who resonate with our vision to explore career and collaboration opportunities. Contact us at zlgao@cuhk.edu.hk to embark on this journey together.
RESEARCH
NEWS
07/2026
Double congratulations! Mr. Md Masruck Alam (Jul 16) and Ms. Yitong Li (Jul 17) both successfully defended their PhD theses — welcome Dr. Alam and Dr. Li!
more →07/2026
Our paper on glancing angle-engineered Fe catalysts enabling millimeter-scale vertically aligned carbon nanotube arrays has been accepted by Surfaces and Interfaces.
07/2026
Our paper on scalable back-diffusion growth of multilayer hBN on Ni-Cu gradient alloy substrates has been accepted by 2D Materials.
07/2026
U.S. Patent No. 12,674,778, "Graphene-Enabled DNA Biosensors with Enhanced Sensitivity and Specificity" (A. T. Johnson Jr., Z. Gao, H. Xia), was granted on July 7, 2026.
more →06/2026
Prof. Zhaoli Gao gave a talk at the Nano in Bio 2026 conference in Le Gosier, Guadeloupe.
11/2025
Our paper on an electronic platform for rapid detection of steroids in clinical plasma has been published in IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement.
Older news
11/2025
Our collaborative work on light-up nanostructures with allosterically controlled fluorogenic DNA aptamers has been published in Advanced Materials.
05/2025
Our paper on Emergent Moire Fringes in Direct-grown Quasicrystal has been accepted by Physical Review B.
04/2025
Our review on next-generation image sensors based on low-dimensional semiconductor materials has been published in Advanced Materials.
12/2024
Our review paper on 2D materials-based FET biosensors for healthcare has been published in Small.
11/2024
Dr. Iris Ting Huang successfully defended her PhD thesis. Congratulations!
11/2024
Dr. Honglin Sun successfully defended his PhD thesis. Congratulations!
10/2024
Leonardo Nicholas Adi Wijaya received the Departmental Commendation Award for excellent research performance.
10/2024
Our paper on rapid miRNA detection using graphene FET biosensors has been published in Biosensors and Bioelectronics.
09/2024
We welcome Tingyu Long and Lijia Ji as new Master students joining our lab.
09/2024
Prof. Zhaoli Gao has been awarded the Vice-Chancellor's Exemplary Teaching Award at CUHK.
08/2024
Prof. Gao visited TU Dresden for academic exchange and collaboration.
06/2024
Our paper on minimizing contact resistance in micro graphene Hall sensors has been published in ACS AMI.
09/2022
Prof. Gao has been awarded the Best Teacher Award for the 2021-22 academic year.
08/2022
Our paper on gradient porous graphene for wearable sweat sensors has been published in Nano Letters.
09/2021
Prof. Gao has been awarded a General Research Fund (GRF) grant from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong.
06/2021
Our lab received a Key-Area Research and Development Program grant from Guangdong Province.
09/2020
Prof. Gao has been awarded an Early Career Scheme (ECS) grant from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong.
01/2020
Our paper on large-area epitaxial growth of ABC trilayer graphene has been published in Nature Communications.
Large-area Epitaxial Growth of van der Waals Materials
Graphene Field-Effect Biosensor Arrays
Wearable Sensors for Real-time Analysis of Human Sweat