Welcome to the Mueller Lab

Over 70% of cancer-related deaths occur in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), primarily due to a lack of access to basic cancer diagnosis and treatment services. Only 30% of LMICs reported having pathology and treatment services available due to shortages in equipment and trained personnel. Cancer mortality could be substantially reduced by focusing on early detectable cancers, such as cervical, oral, breast, and colorectal cancers, which have high cure rates when detected and treated early. The Mueller lab is focused on developing safe, affordable, feasible diagnostic and therapeutic technologies to improve the management of cervical cancer and other cancers in the United States and in LMICs. Specifically, we use engineering design methods, rapid prototyping and fabrication, optical imaging, chemical ablation, bench testing, and small and large animal models to develop and evaluate biomedical technologies for improving cancer management globally.​

Seeing with Optical Devices

Treating with Ablative Therapies

Optical techniques can capture relevant morphological and physiological information that can be used to diagnose pre-cancer and cancer and monitor response to therapy at the point of care. Additionally, many types of optical imaging are well-suited for low-resource environments because they are fast, low-cost, non-invasive and non-destructive to tissue, particularly when compared to existing medical imaging techniques, such as CT and MRI. The Mueller lab develops low-cost optical devices specifically designed to 'see' disease in low-resource environments. ​

While being able to diagnose pre-cancer and cancer is vital, alone it is not enough, particularly because up to 80% of patients in low-resource settings do not return for treatment. Thus, there is an immense need for low-cost, easily-accessible pre-cancer and cancer therapies that can be delivered at the time of diagnosis. While excisional surgeries are at the foundation of cancer treatment, 90% of patients in LMICs do not have access to surgery primary due to cost and lack of trained personnel and/or necessary equipment. Ablative therapies are well-suited to address this need as they are low-cost, portable, and easily-accessible. The Mueller lab develops low-cost ablative therapies specifically designed to 'treat' disease in low-resource environments. 

​Over the past two centuries, we have seen a shift from mortality due to acute infections to death primarily from non-communicable chronic diseases, which are continuing to rise. For example, worldwide cancer deaths are project to increase 60% from 10 million in 2018 to 16 million in 2040. As bioengineers, we have a tremendous opportunity to increase global access to health care through developing more affordable biomedical technologies to improve cancer management. ​
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Interested in Developing Biomedical Technologies for Global Health?

Are you a prospective graduate student interested in applying or current graduate student interested in rotating?
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Multiple positions for prospective and current graduate students are available in developing and validating low-cost optical devices and ablative therapies to improve cancer management. 

To apply, please contact Dr. Mueller ([email protected]) with a: 1) description of your interest in the position; 2) description of your previous research and/or industry experience; and 3) CV/resume. ​

Are you an undergraduate student?

Consider taking BIOE415: Engineering Design for Global Health

​Course Description: Many medical technologies are not available in low and middle-income countries due to the cost, infrastructure, and medical expertise required to implement and sustain them. There is tremendous potential to increase access to health care through developing more affordable biomedical technologies, but effective design requires deep understanding of the problem. This course will introduce the human-centered design framework and how it can be applied to design new biomedical technologies to solve challenges in global health.