Andrea Locke

Andrea Locke is an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Chemistry at Vanderbilt University's School of Engineering. She leads the Locke Biosensing Lab, which focuses on developing affordable, portable diagnostic tools using optical biosensing technologies such as surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), microfluidics, and nanoplasmonic structures. Her research addresses clinical challenges in point-of-care diagnostics, particularly in pediatric inflammation, infection detection, and non-invasive monitoring of conditions like eosinophilic esophagitis and liver steatosis.

Education: B.S. (2010) and Ph.D. (2016) in Biomedical Engineering from Texas A&M University, followed by postdoctoral research at Texas A&M's Center for Remote Health Technologies (2016–2018) and Vanderbilt University (2018–2021). She also holds an A.D. from Harrison College.

Research interests include nanoplasmonic bioassays, portable biophotonics tools (SERS, fluorescence, colorimetry), and low-cost fluidic platforms. Her lab has a strong presence at conferences like SPIE Photonics West, SciX, and BMES, with recent highlights including a poster award for undergraduate researcher Kate Goncalves and multiple presentations on microbiome analysis and bacterial detection.

Current projects involve designing paper-based SERS substrates for bacterial detection in biofluids, developing culture-free bacterial detection methods, and advancing Raman spectroscopy for in vivo diagnostics. The lab collaborates with Vanderbilt's Biophotonics Center and integrates interdisciplinary approaches combining engineering, chemistry, and clinical medicine.