Albert Folch Folch ( ; born September 25, 1966) is a Spanish/Catalan scientist, writer, and artist. He is currently a professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington who is known for his research into Microfluidics and BioMEMS as well as his works of scientific art.
Background
Folch 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 to 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 a full professor. In 2001 he received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, and in 2014 he was elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows Class of 2015. He served on the advisory board of the BioMEMS journal Lab on a Chip from 2006 until 2017 and now serves on the Editorial boards of Technology and Micromachines.
Scientific research and teaching
The Folch Lab works on the interface between microfluidics and cancer. The lab develops microfluidic devices to test multiple cancer drugs on a small, live, intact tumor biopsy at high fidelity in order to help doctors decide which drug is most efficacious. The lab also develops 3D printing approaches to make microfluidic devices as easy to use as smartphones and make them easily available to clinicians in order to enable novel cancer diagnostics and therapies.
As part of the undergraduate and graduate curriculum of the University of Washington's Bioengineering Department, Folch teaches a course on BioMEMS and a course on Cancer Biosensors.
Artistic activity
The Folch Lab produces microscopy images of microchannels and cells that it then uses to run an artistic outreach program called "BAIT", short for "Bringing Art Into Technology". The micrographs act as baits to entice people to read the accompanying texts (the science) displayed next to the images. Hence, the visitors of the exhibit enjoy the art and leave having learned some science via an artistic experience. 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 Folch. However, Folch considers each piece a "collaboration" between him and his students (who are always credited by name, as in a scientific publication).
BAIT now consists of a free online gallery (with more than 1,000 images), a YouTube channel, and more than 60 printed or framed pieces. BAIT has produced six major exhibits. The largest exhibit was at the University of Washington's Allen Library in 2010. In 2013, BAIT was exhibited in the halls of the 2013 Biomedical Engineering Society meeting in the Seattle Convention Center. In 2014, six pieces from BAIT were exhibited during the Mahato Memorial at Duke University, the first time that BAIT was invited outside of Seattle. BAIT has been featured twice on TV (UWTV in January 2012 and NTN24 in November 2014 ).
Folch's artistic activity extends into graphic design. He has designed the logo for the University of Washington's Bioengineering Department and Folch Lab's art has been used in a number of brochures of scientific venues.
Literary activity
Folch has written two general science books in Catalan (translated titles: Caught on the Internet and The Science in Soccer), a textbook in English (Introduction to BioMEMS), a book about soccer in English (For the Love of the Ball), and a microfluidics book in English (Hidden In Plain Sight - The History, Science, and Engineering of Microfluidic Technology).
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.