Albert 3D-prints/fabricates microfluidic devices for cancer, tissue engineering & other applications. The Folch lab’s long-term mission is to make cancer drugs more affordable by testing directly in intact, tiny human biopsies using microfluidic devices that enable drug multiplexing. He also uses 3D-printing as a strategy to develop novel microfluidic assays with user interfaces that will be as intuitive to use as smartphones.

Albert Folch has a broad background in physics, materials science, and microfabrication (MEMS), and have specialized in bioengineering, cell-based microfluidics, and 3D-printing. Over the years, his lab has produced creative designs in microfluidic automation, gradient generators, cancer diagnostics, Organ-on-a-Chip (tumor cells, muscle cells, and stem cells), and stereolithography. 

He is the author of 5 books, including “Hidden in Plain Sight – The History, Science, and Engineering of Microfluidic Technology” (MIT Press, 2022), “Introduction to BioMEMS” (a textbook now adopted by ~103 depts. in 18 countries), and 2 books related to soccer (e.g. “For the Love of the Ball” in Amazon), Albert’s favorite hobby.

The Folch lab generates beautiful and compelling images that depict the intriguing behavior of fluids and cells on the microscale. Since 2007, the lab runs a celebrated Scientific Art program called BAIT (Bringing Art Into Technology) which has produced 7 exhibits, a popular resource gallery of >2,000 free images related to microfluidics and microfabrication, and a YouTube Channel that plays microfluidic videos with music which accumulated >165,000 visits since 2009. BAIT’s mission is to use various art forms as a vehicle to efficiently communicate science to the public.

In 2000 Albert was awarded the NSF CAREER Award, in 2014 he was inducted Fellow of the AIMBE, and in 2022 he was elected to the Institute of Catalan Studies.