Bioelectronic and Bio-optical Sensors: Sensing of biological compounds is a significant challenge of technology development in numerous fields. These range from the detection of hazardous substances in the environment or various technological processes in industry, to the detection of compounds of biological warfare or bio-terrorism and applications in biomedical devices. Bioelectronic and bio-optical devices using flexible electronics have the potential to provide low cost solutions for many of these applications. A key element in a successful sensing device is the mechanism of detection. A common theme will be the design, construction and testing of a device on a flexible substrate that involves several integrated bioelectrochemical-sensing mechanisms. Projects will be designed to cut across traditional disciplinary boundaries to include both biological and physical attributes. Traditionally, such devices may perform a transfer of charges between electrodes and the detected compounds or intermediates involved in the detection mechanisms. Such sensor mechanisms may be based on direct amperometric or voltammetric detection of the analyte, amplifying transducers such as ligand-gated ion channels, or by employing electrochemical transistors or optical elements in the detection mechanism.
The Material-Biology
Interface:
The
successful implementation of flexible electronics for
biological applications will require improved fundamental
understanding and control of the interfaces between
synthetic materials and biological structures. The rapid
development of novel synthetic structures for flexible
electronics and the ability to rapidly shape and form these
materials at very small length scales offers unique
opportunities for tailoring specificity and eliminating
nonspecific interactions. This effort targets the design
and study of use-specific surfaces and interfaces by
employing general strategies suitable for various material
and device classes as well as for the development of new
biological research tools. Biocompatible surfaces will be
fine tuned for particular applications. A common focus will
be the patterning and self-assembly of modified surface
arrays to orient proteins or biological membranes or to
assemble cell surface components tailored with specific
receptors for effective sensor design. Projects will be
aligned with precise needs arising from the other two
themes, and thus will be collaborative ventures. Access to
world class facilities by the IGERT Fellows will be vital
to this effort and will include the use of the facilities
of the Nanobiotechnology Center (NBTC), the facilities of
the Wadsworth Center/UA and the use of the CAMM to provide
specialized test samples.
Flexible Neural Electronics: Electronic and computer technologies and our understanding of brain function have advanced along parallel, but mostly disconnected paths. Devices that utilize the latest advances in these technologies could harness the ultra-massive parallel processing, and decision-making capability of the brain and in turn could revolutionize our lives. Such devices could help treat neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s disease but just as important, direct brain control of machines and communication networks could free us from repetitive and/or dangerous tasks, and allow us to project this capability over large distances in a short time frame. Flexible biocompatible devices, with active-electronics at the site of signal detection (electrical and neurochemical), will enable this revolution by improving the integration of the electronics with the biological system, dramatically expanding our understanding of brain signals. Freedom from large heavy cumbersome equipment could be achieved by integrating electronics for data analysis, onboard and external networking, and telemetry. These critical steps can only be achieved by a new generation of multidisciplinary individuals cross-trained in engineering and neuroscience who have the skills to design a new generation of devices with improved electrical and mechanical properties. Our IGERT Fellows will become these needed professionals, and the biocompatible flexible electronic/biochemical devices they develop will drive this scientific and technological leap. Interaction with the IGERT Fellows involved in Bioelectronic and Bio-optical Sensors research will provide state-of-the-art electrical and neurochemical sensors, and interaction with the Material-Biology Interface group will provide the much needed biocompatible materials with which all three groups will collaborate to design and fabricate the devices.