Im Lab

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Phone: 617-643-5679

Email: im.hyungsoon@mgh.harvard.edu

Follow @ImLabMGH

Photonics, plasmonics and novel materials

Our lab develops novel devices and applications using state-of the art nanoplasmonic and photonic sensors. We also develop new materials to expand the utility of these sensors. Our vision is to bridge the fields of engineering and medicine for next-generation diagnostic technologies. Based on physics and basic in nature, our ultimate goal is clinical translation.

Recent Publications

• Tran HL, Zheng W, Issadore DA, Im H, Cho YK, Zhang Y, Liu D, Liu Y, Li B, Liu F, Wong DTW, Sun J, Qian K, He M, Wan M, Zeng Y, Cheng K, Huang TJ, Chiu DT, Lee LP, Zheng L, Godwin AK, Kalluri R, Soper SA, Hu TY

  Extracellular Vesicles for Clinical Diagnostics: From Bulk Measurements to Single-Vesicle Analysis. ACS Nano. 2025;19(31):28021-28109 - PMID: 40720603 - PMCID: PMC12356129 - DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.5c00706

• Song TH, Cao M, Min J, Im H, Lee H, Lee K

  Diffraction-informed deep learning for molecular-specific holograms of breast cancer cells. APL Bioeng. 2025;9(3):036107 - PMID: 40708806 - PMCID: PMC12289329 - DOI: 10.1063/5.0246495

• Leming M, Im H

  Differential dementia detection from multimodal brain images in a real-world dataset. Alzheimers Dement. 2025;21:e70362 - PMID: 40596742 - PMCID: PMC12213449 - DOI: 10.1002/alz.70362

• Leming M, Kim K, Bruffaerts R, Im H

  Strategies for mitigating data heterogeneities in AI-based neuro-disease detection. Neuron. 2025;113(8):1129-1132 - PMID: 40037359 - DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2025.01.028

• Kim JJ, Hong JS, Kim H, Choi M, Winter U, Lee H, Im H

  CRISPR/Cas13a-assisted amplification-free miRNA biosensor via dark-field imaging and magnetic gold nanoparticles. Sens Diagn. 2024;3(8):1310-1318 - PMID: 39129860 - PMCID: PMC11308380 - DOI: 10.1039/d4sd00081a

• More publications ...

Research projects

Nanoplasmonic sensing

• Multiplexed exosome analysis
• Single molecular detection

Microholography

• Advanced photonics diagnostics
• Integrated portable imaging system

Nanospectroscopy

• Chip-based nano-spectroscopy sensing
• Integrated with deep learning-based data analysis

Nanophotonics

• Next-generation optical sensing system
• High-throughput, low-cost chip fabrication

Nano-plasmonic sensors

In the past, we have developed nanoplasmonic sensing systems (nPLEX/NPS) for exosome analysis in cancer. Ongoing projects are in the fields of highly multiplexed exosome analysis as well as for single molecule analysis.

The nPLEX sensor was highlighted as one of the greatest hits among 20 years of Nature Biotechnology biomedical research.

• Yang KS*, Im H*, Hong S*, Pergolini I, Del Castillo AF, Wang R, Clardy S, Huang CH, Pille C, Ferrone S, Yang R, Castro CM, Lee H, Del Castillo CF, Weissleder R. Multiparametric plasma EV profiling facilitates diagnosis of pancreatic malignancy. Sci Transl Med. 2017;9(391):eaal3226 – PMID: 28539469.
• Im H*, Shao H*, Park YI, Peterson VM, Castro CM, Weissleder R*, Lee H*. Label-free detection and molecular profiling of exosomes with a nano-plasmonic sensor. Nature Biotechnol. 2014;32(5):490-5 – PMID: 24752081

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