Dr. Dino Di Carlo, director of the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center Nanotechnology Program and professor of bioengineering at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering, is among 105 young researchers from across the country who will receive the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the White House has announced.
The award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on science and engineering researchers in the early stages of their careers. It highlights the key role that the Administration places in encouraging and accelerating American innovation to grow our economy and tackle our greatest challenges.
Di Carlo will join his fellow honorees to receive their awards at a Washington, DC ceremony this spring.
“These early-career scientists are leading the way in our efforts to confront and understand challenges from climate change to our health and wellness,” President Obama said. “We congratulate these accomplished individuals and encourage them to continue to serve as an example of the incredible promise and ingenuity of the American people.”
Di Carlo is engineering microfluidic and nanoparticle systems for the analysis of single cells, which in turn will improve cell-based diagnostics. In addition, his Biomicrofluidics Laboratory develops a number of tools, ranging from novel high-throughput 3D microparticle printers to next-generation measurements of rare cells that promise to transform blood tests.
He has received numerous honors for his work including young researcher awards from the U.S. Office of Naval Research; the National Science Foundation; the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; the National Institutes of Health; and most recently from the Materials Research Society.
Di Carlo received his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco and was a postdoctoral scholar at the Center for Engineering in Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. He joined UCLA in 2008.
