Biography

Dr. Pak Kin Wong is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Surgery, and the director of BME MS programs at the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Wong joined Penn State as a Professor through the Dean’s Frontier Faculty search at the College of Engineering in 2015. Before joining Penn State, Dr. Wong was an Associate Professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering GIDP, the Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center, and the Bio5 Institute at the University of Arizona. He received his PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2005. He has published over 130 peer-reviewed journal articles across multiple disciplines, including Nature Biomedical Engineering, Science Advances, Nature Reviews Cancer, Nature Communications, Nature Reviews Bioengineering, and Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Wong’s research focuses on developing novel technologies for precision medicine, including cancer invasiveness assessment, rapid bacterial pathogen and microbiota characterization, and personalized immunotherapy. He has pioneered single cell biosensing techniques and microfluidic devices for disease diagnostics and modeling, while also advancing data-driven and artificial intelligence (AI)-based workflows for biomedical analysis. For instance, his team has identified that the formation of invasive leader cells is dynamically regulated by Dll4-Notch1 signaling and intercellular tension. They have also developed novel techniques for rapid microbial profiling. In collaboration with his industrial and clinical partners, Dr. Wong has established multiple single cell antimicrobial susceptibility testing and pathogen identification systems toward health, hygiene, and defense applications. These techniques have been adopted in various pre-clinical and clinical studies globally.

Dr. Wong is a strong advocate for fostering balanced, unbiased, and supportive environments in educational programs and professional societies worldwide. He serves as an editor for several leading journals, including IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology, Microfluidics and Nanofluidics, SLAS Technology, and Scientific Reports. He has played a significant role in organizing major international conferences, serving as General Chair/Co-Chair for IEEE NANOMED 2023, 2018, and 2013, as well as General Co-Chair for IEEE NEMS 2017. Among his numerous honors, Dr. Wong received the NIH Director's New Innovator Award (2010), the Arizona Engineering Faculty Fellow Award (2011), and the AAFSAA Outstanding Faculty Award (2013). He was also recognized with the Distinguished Alumni Award from CUHK (2017) and the SLAS Technology Ten – A Top 10 Breakthrough in Innovation (2018). Dr. Wong is an elected member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and a Fellow of AIMBE, ASME, RSC, and SLAS, reflecting his outstanding contributions to the fields of biomedical engineering, nanotechnology, and laboratory automation.

Selected honors and awards

2024           European Academy of Sciences and Arts

2021           Fellow, American Society of Mechanical Engineers

2018           The 2018 SLAS Tech Ten, A Top-10 Breakthrough in Innovation

2017           Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry

2017           Fellow, American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering

2017           Fellow, Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening

2017           Distinguished Alumni Award, Faculty of Engineering, CUHK

2016           Best Paper Award, CM Ho Best Paper Award in Micro/Nano Fluidics, IEEE NEMS 16

2016           Best of Session Poster Award, American Urological Association Annual Convention 16

2015           The 2015 JALA 10

2014           Outstanding Alumni, CUHK, Mechanical and Automation Engineering

2014           The 2014 JALA 10

2013           AAFSAA Outstanding Faculty Award, University of Arizona

2012           Winner, US Contest on Applications in Nano/Micro Technologies

2011           Arizona Engineering Faculty Fellow

2010           NIH Director's New Innovator Award

Contact

Dr. Pak Kin Wong

Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Surgery

The Pennsylvania State University

Office: CBEB 516

Phone: 814-863-5267

Email: pak@engr.psu.edu