Hydrogels are three-dimensional networks of hydrophilic polymer chains that can be designed and engineered to offer a range of physicochemical properties. One research direction in the BioMAD Lab focuses on the development of graphically-encoded hydrogel microparticles for multiplexed optical detection of biomarker panels. These encoded microparticles are synthesized in-house based on stop-flow lithography strategies within our own 3D-printed microfluidics. The resultant biosensing microparticles are functionalized through our library of efficient bio-orthogonal functionalization chemistries with specific bioreceptors for the detection of proteins, nucleic acids, hormones, or other biomarkers of interest.