Albert Folch Folch
Encyclopedia
Albert Folch Folch is a Catalan
scientist, writer, and artist.
Albert Folch was born in Barcelona
(Spain
) in 1966. He received his B.Sc. in Physics from the University of Barcelona
(U.B.) in 1989. In 1994, he received his Ph.D. in Surface Science
and Nanotechnology
from the U.B.’s Physics Dept. under Dr. Javier Tejada's supervision. During his Ph.D. he was also a visiting scientist (1990–91) at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (Berkeley
, California) working on Atomic Force Microscopy under Dr. Miquel Salmeron. From 1994–1996, he was a postdoc at M.I.T. developing microdevices under the advice of Martin A. Schmidt (EECS Dept.) and Mark S. Wrighton
(Chemistry). In 1997, he joined the laboratory of Dr. Mehmet Toner
as a postdoc at Harvard University
’s Center for Engineering in Medicine to work on BioMEMS and Tissue Engineering
. In 2000 he joined the University of Washington
's Dept. of Bioengineering (Seattle), where he is presently an Associate Professor. In 2001 he received a National Science Foundation
CAREER Award. He serves on the Advisory Board of Lab on a Chip, the leading BioMEMS journal.
. The lab is best known for its microfluidic devices, such as the microfluidic photomasks (that were featured in the New York Times), a combinatorial micromixer (featured in The Washington Post ), and a microwell array for optically recording from large numbers of olfactory sensory neurons. However, the long-term biomedical impact of the Folch lab research lies in the use of these devices for cell culture, in particular to better control the microenvironment of neurons and muscle cells (compared to traditional technologies such as petri dishes and pipettes). Examples of these biological investigations are the use of a microfluidic device to focally stimulate muscle cells with synaptogenic molecules, or to perfuse large numbers of olfactory sensory neurons with odorants (a "microfluidic nose" for olfaction studies).
As part of the undergraduate curriculum of the University of Washington's Bioengineering Dept., Albert Folch teaches a course on BioMEMS and a course on Neural Engineering
.
The Folch Lab art collection now consists of more than 50 printed/framed pieces and is already in its third exhibit. The most recent and largest exhibit is at the University of Washington Allen Library.
Since 2010, Albert Folch also acts as Art Editor for the journal Lab on a Chip, running the "Art on a Chip" website.
"Caught on the Internet" (Editorial Empuries, 1997) teaches what the Internet is about to computer-illiterate audiences, starting from bits and bytes and ending with issues such as social fairness and hackers. This book is in its second edition and an extract of it is used in a textbook for Catalan middle schoolers.
"The Science in Soccer" (Editorial Empuries, 2004) uses soccer examples to convey science. The book is organized in chapters related to various soccer subjects ("The ball", "The field", "The player", etc.). Inside each chapter we find the answers to questions such as what it would be like to play soccer in each of the planets of the Solar System, why the ball is more than one meter ahead of where we think it really is in a 100 km/h kick (due to delays in the transmission of the nervous impulse), or why soccer balls are made of 12 pentagons and 20 hexagons, etc.
Albert Folch also created a large Catalan Poetry Selection. This webpage, originally hosted by M.I.T. and manually typed in 1995 just one year after the World Wide Web started, was, at the time, the first online literary resource of its kind and size in any language. Still widely visited, the selection features 800 poems and 176 Catalan poets spanning ten centuries, including 24 unpublished poets.
Catalan people
The Catalans or Catalonians are the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia that form a historical nationality in Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France are sometimes included in this definition...
scientist, writer, and artist.
Albert Folch was born in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
(Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
) in 1966. He received his B.Sc. in Physics from the University of Barcelona
University of Barcelona
The University of Barcelona is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia in Spain. It is a member of the Coimbra Group, LERU, European University Association, Mediterranean Universities Union, International Research Universities Network and Vives Network...
(U.B.) in 1989. In 1994, he received his Ph.D. in Surface Science
Surface science
Surface science is the study of physical and chemical phenomena that occur at the interface of two phases, including solid–liquid interfaces, solid–gas interfaces, solid–vacuum interfaces, and liquid-gas interfaces. It includes the fields of surface chemistry and surface physics. Some related...
and Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally, nanotechnology deals with developing materials, devices, or other structures possessing at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometres...
from the U.B.’s Physics Dept. under Dr. Javier Tejada's supervision. During his Ph.D. he was also a visiting scientist (1990–91) at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
, California) working on Atomic Force Microscopy under Dr. Miquel Salmeron. From 1994–1996, he was a postdoc at M.I.T. developing microdevices under the advice of Martin A. Schmidt (EECS Dept.) and Mark S. Wrighton
Mark S. Wrighton
Mark Stephen Wrighton is an American academic, a chemist, and the current Chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Wrighton received his B.S. in Chemistry from Florida State University in 1969. While at Florida State, he won the Monsanto Chemistry Award for...
(Chemistry). In 1997, he joined the laboratory of Dr. Mehmet Toner
Mehmet Toner
Mehmet Toner, PhD is a Turkish biomedical engineer. A professor of surgery at the Harvard Medical School and professor of biomedical engineering at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology , Toner first gained prominence for his theory of intra-cellular ice formation while...
as a postdoc at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
’s Center for Engineering in Medicine to work on BioMEMS and Tissue Engineering
Tissue engineering
Tissue engineering is the use of a combination of cells, engineering and materials methods, and suitable biochemical and physio-chemical factors to improve or replace biological functions...
. In 2000 he joined the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
's Dept. of Bioengineering (Seattle), where he is presently an Associate Professor. In 2001 he received a National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
CAREER Award. He serves on the Advisory Board of Lab on a Chip, the leading BioMEMS journal.
Scientific Research and Teaching
Albert Folch's lab works at the interface between neurobiology and microfluidicsMicrofluidics
Microfluidics deals with the behavior, precise control and manipulation of fluids that are geometrically constrained to a small, typically sub-millimeter, scale.Typically, micro means one of the following features:* small volumes...
. The lab is best known for its microfluidic devices, such as the microfluidic photomasks (that were featured in the New York Times), a combinatorial micromixer (featured in The Washington Post ), and a microwell array for optically recording from large numbers of olfactory sensory neurons. However, the long-term biomedical impact of the Folch lab research lies in the use of these devices for cell culture, in particular to better control the microenvironment of neurons and muscle cells (compared to traditional technologies such as petri dishes and pipettes). Examples of these biological investigations are the use of a microfluidic device to focally stimulate muscle cells with synaptogenic molecules, or to perfuse large numbers of olfactory sensory neurons with odorants (a "microfluidic nose" for olfaction studies).
As part of the undergraduate curriculum of the University of Washington's Bioengineering Dept., Albert Folch teaches a course on BioMEMS and a course on Neural Engineering
Neural engineering
Neural engineering is a discipline within biomedical engineering that uses engineering techniques to understand, repair, replace, enhance, or otherwise exploit the properties of neural systems...
.
Artistic Activity
The Folch Lab produces microscopy images of microchannels and cells that then it uses to run an artistic outreach program called BAIT, short for "Bringing Art Into Technology". The idea is that the micrographs act as baits to entice people to read the accompanying texts (the science) displayed next to the images. Hence, one comes to the exhibit for an artistic experience and leaves having actually learned some science. While a few of the micrographs are exhibited as obtained by the students without much modification, most pieces are collages, mosaics, and/or mixed-media montages (containing actual devices) made by Albert Folch. However, Albert Folch considers each piece a "collaboration" between him and his students (who are always credited by name, as in a scientific publication).The Folch Lab art collection now consists of more than 50 printed/framed pieces and is already in its third exhibit. The most recent and largest exhibit is at the University of Washington Allen Library.
Since 2010, Albert Folch also acts as Art Editor for the journal Lab on a Chip, running the "Art on a Chip" website.
Literary activity
Albert Folch has written two general science books, published in Catalan (translated titles: “Caught on the Internet” and “The Science in Soccer”)."Caught on the Internet" (Editorial Empuries, 1997) teaches what the Internet is about to computer-illiterate audiences, starting from bits and bytes and ending with issues such as social fairness and hackers. This book is in its second edition and an extract of it is used in a textbook for Catalan middle schoolers.
"The Science in Soccer" (Editorial Empuries, 2004) uses soccer examples to convey science. The book is organized in chapters related to various soccer subjects ("The ball", "The field", "The player", etc.). Inside each chapter we find the answers to questions such as what it would be like to play soccer in each of the planets of the Solar System, why the ball is more than one meter ahead of where we think it really is in a 100 km/h kick (due to delays in the transmission of the nervous impulse), or why soccer balls are made of 12 pentagons and 20 hexagons, etc.
Albert Folch also created a large Catalan Poetry Selection. This webpage, originally hosted by M.I.T. and manually typed in 1995 just one year after the World Wide Web started, was, at the time, the first online literary resource of its kind and size in any language. Still widely visited, the selection features 800 poems and 176 Catalan poets spanning ten centuries, including 24 unpublished poets.
Awards and Honors
- 2000 NSF CAREER Award.
- 2006 NASA’s Space Act Award.
- 2009 Art exhibit at Harborview Medical Center (March’09).
- 2009 Art exhibit at UW Meany Theater (Sep’09-Sep’10).
- 2010 Art exhibit at the University of Washington Allen Library (Nov’10-Mar’11).
- Folch Lab featured in the press: New York Times (2/20/2003, Technology section), Science News (Feb 15 2003 issue), Physics World (3/2003 issue), Materials Today (4/2003 issue), Photonics Spectra (4/2003 issue), BioPhotonics World (5/2003 issue), Proto magazineProto magazineProto is a national science magazine and website produced by Massachusetts General Hospital in collaboration with Time Inc. Content Solutions. The quarterly magazine was launched in 2005 and covers news in the field of biomedicine and health care, focusing on basic and clinical research, policy and...
(by the Mass General Hospital, Fall 2008 issue), and Washington Post (10/28/2008, Health section), among others.