Daniel Fletcher

Professor; Purnendu Chatterjee Chair in Engineering Biological Systems

Dept of Bioengineering

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(510) 643-5624

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Research Bio

Daniel Fletcher is the Purnendu Chatterjee Chair in Engineering Biological Systems and a professor of Bioengineering. He joined the bioengineering faculty in 2002 and advanced from Associate Professor to Professor in mid 2010. He is also currently serving as Vice Chair for Bioengineering. His research interests include optical and force microscopy, microfabrication, mechanical properties of cells.

Research Expertise and Interest

bioengineering, optical and force microscopy, microfabrication, biophysics, mechanical properties of cells

In the News

Blue and gold lights lights on doe library

National Academy of Medicine Adds Two From UC Berkeley

Newly elected National Academy of Medicine members have worked on mobile phone microscopes and health disparities.

Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Awards $21 Million to 21 Berkeley Researchers

The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub announced today (Jan. 11) the second cohort of scientists to be named CZ Biohub Investigators, 21 of whom are UC Berkeley faculty members.

An illustration shows a green sample in a vial. Next to it is a bubble which shows a close up of the CRISPR Cas13 protein and how it interacts with viral RNA.

New CRISPR-based COVID-19 test uses smartphone cameras to spot virus RNA

Identifying and isolating individuals who may be contagious with the coronavirus is key to limiting the spread of the disease. But even months into the pandemic, many patients are still waiting days to receive COVID-19 test results.

Medical Exams: There’s an App for That

Your cell phone can already find your car and tell you what song the restaurant is playing. How about an app to screen for eye disease? By coupling the sophisticated imaging capabilities of smart phone cameras with lenses and software for examining the retina, Daniel Fletcher and his students have developed a hand-held, user-friendly version of the optometrist’s ophthalmoscope and are teaming up with clinical collaborators to detect retinal disease caused by diabetes.

Markita del Carpio Landry and Michel Maharbiz

CZ Biohub awards nearly $14.5 million to Berkeley researchers

Thirteen UC Berkeley faculty have been chosen by the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub to receive up to $1.5 million each over the next five years to conduct cutting-edge biomedical research — with no strings attached.

Researchers talk new diagnostic methods at global tech conference

Four UC Berkeley engineering professors took part in the World Economic Forum’s ninth Annual Meeting of the New Champions, a global conference on innovation, science and technology held last week in Dalian, China. Ab

Smartphone Video Microscope Automates Detection of Parasites in Blood

A UC Berkeley-led research team has developed a new mobile phone microscope that uses video to automatically detect and quantify infection by parasitic worms in a drop of blood. This technology could help revive efforts to eradicate debilitating diseases in Africa by providing critical information for health providers in the field.

Florescent images of malignant breast epithelial cells

To revert breast cancer cells, give them the squeeze

Researchers at the UC Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have put the squeeze — literally — on malignant mammary cells to guide them back into a normal growth pattern.

Featured in the Media

Please note: The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or positions of UC Berkeley.

January 12, 2021

Bay Area Researchers Develop New Rapid COVID-19 Test That Uses Smartphone Camera

ABC-7

Dion Lim and Tim Didion

Bay Area researchers believe a new device has the potential to ramp up the fight against COVID-19. It's designed to diagnose the virus in a fraction of the time, with the help of something you may have in your pocket. All it takes is a marriage of Nobel Prize-winning science and consumer electronics, namely, a cellphone. UC Berkeley bioengineer Dan Fletcher and colleagues at San Francisco's Gladstone Institute of Virology are working hard to develop a COVID-19 test, using a cellphone's camera and CRISPR biotechnology, that can detect the virus in 30 minutes or less. For more on this, see our press release at Berkeley News.

FullStory

December 9, 2020

COVID Test May be As Close As Your Smartphone, Say UC, Gladstone Researchers

San Francisco Business Times

Ron Leuty

Tapping the expertise of Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna and medical smart-phone technology expert Dan Fletcher from UC Berkeley, researchers believe they're on the cusp of a point-of-care COVID test that would deliver results within 30 minutes. For more on this, see our press release at Berkeley News.

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Teaching

Courses taught during the three most recent terms

2026 Spring

Undergraduate Design Research [BIOENG 196]
Supervised Independent Study [BIOENG 199]
Individual Study or Research [BIOENG 299]
Supervised Independent Study and Research [BIOENG 99]
Honors Undergraduate Research [BIOENG H194]
Supervised Independent Study and Research [MCELLBI 199]
Research Review in Cell and Developmental Biology: Mechanics and Dynamics of Cell Movements [MCELLBI 239BB]
Research [MCELLBI 292]
Supervised Independent Study [MCELLBI 99]
Honors Research [MCELLBI H196A]
Honors Research [MCELLBI H196B]

2025 Fall

Undergraduate Design Research [BIOENG 196]
Supervised Independent Study [BIOENG 199]
Group Studies, Seminars, or Group Research [BIOENG 298]
Individual Study or Research [BIOENG 299]
Supervised Independent Study and Research [BIOENG 99]
Honors Undergraduate Research [BIOENG H194]
Supervised Independent Study and Research [MCELLBI 199]
Research Review in Cell and Developmental Biology: Mechanics and Dynamics of Cell Movements [MCELLBI 239BB]
Research [MCELLBI 292]
Supervised Independent Study [MCELLBI 99]
Honors Research [MCELLBI H196A]
Honors Research [MCELLBI H196B]

2025 Summer

Individual Study or Research [BIOENG 299]

2025 Spring

Undergraduate Design Research [BIOENG 196]
Supervised Independent Study [BIOENG 199]
Individual Study or Research [BIOENG 299]
Supervised Independent Study and Research [BIOENG 99]
Honors Undergraduate Research [BIOENG H194]
Supervised Independent Study and Research [MCELLBI 199]
Research Review in Cell and Developmental Biology: Mechanics and Dynamics of Cell Movements [MCELLBI 239BB]
Research [MCELLBI 292]
Supervised Independent Study [MCELLBI 99]
Honors Research [MCELLBI H196A]
Honors Research [MCELLBI H196B]