Dr. Poellmann is an assistant scientist in the Hong Research Group. His focus is on the development of liquid biopsies based on the enumeration and analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and exosomes. He is involved in several ongoing studies to correlate circulating tumor biomarkers with treatment success, the development of new liquid biopsy technologies, and the study of molecular mechanisms of rare biomarker purification using the Hong Research Group’s atomic force microscope. Michael is also associated with Capio Biosciences, which was co-founded by Dr. Hong to further develop the lab’s liquid biopsies and bring them to market.

Dr. Poellmann graduated from Marquette University with a BS in biomedical engineering and minor in physics before earning a PhD in bioengineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His focus was on micropatterned biomaterials for cell culture and tissue engineering with Dr. Amy Wagoner Johnson. Michael served as a visiting lecturer at the University of Illinois before receiving an NIH T32 fellowship to study the molecular pathogenesis of trauma and biomaterials for cellular resuscitation with Dr. Raphael Lee at the University of Chicago.