Ken received his PhD at UC Berkeley in physical chemistry and later trained at SRI International, where he built complex optical systems for cell- and tissue-based diagnostics. His main research focus is the integration of optics, microfluidics, and sensors to improve blood diagnostics. Since joining the MGH, he has focused on working with large teams of clinicians and researchers to create new blood processing and monitoring tools. He developed a novel cell isolation technology for a large multi-center clinical genomics and proteomics study. He has also created new microminature tools for the optical detection of cells in whole blood. Ken is also the co-founder of General Fluidics, a company that aims to incorporate diagnostic technologies into new medical devices for point-of-care monitoring of patients.

Representative publications

Shah AM, Yu M, Nakamura Z, Ciciliano J, Ulman M, Kotz K, et al. Biopolymer system for cell recovery from microfluidic cell capture devices. Anal Chem. 2012 Apr; 84(8):3682-8. 
PubMed PMID: 22414137; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3328665

Warner EA, Kotz KT, Ungaro RF, Abouhamze AS, Lopez MC, Cuenca AG, et al. Microfluidics-based capture of human neutrophils for expression analysis in blood and bronchoalveolar lavage. Lab Invest. 2011 Dec; 91(12):1787-95. 
PubMed PMID: 21931299; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3957199

Kotz KT, Xiao W, Miller-Graziano C, Qian WJ, Russom A, Warner EA, et al. Clinical microfluidics for neutrophil genomics and proteomics. Nat Med. 2010 Sep; 16(9):1042-7. 
PubMed PMID: 20802500; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3136804

Information

Kenneth Kotz, Ph.D.
Massachusetts General Hospital
Center for Technology Development
51 Blossom Street, Room 239
Boston, MA 02114

View Ken’s Harvard Catalyst profile