Day 1 :
Keynote Forum
Anis Rahman
Applied Research & Photonics Inc., USA
Keynote: Advances in terahertz spectroscopy nanoscanner and sub surface 3D imaging for biomaterial
Time : 10:00-10:40
Biography:
Anis Rahman is known for his work on dendrimer based photonics and terahertz technology. He has completed his MS and PhD from Marquette University (Milwaukee, WI) and Postdoctoral Research Position at Columbia University, USA. He has contributed more than 100 publications and conference presentations and has produced 12 patents. Currently, he is the President and Chief Technology Officer of Applied Research & Photonics (ARP), a Harrisburg, PA based company. He is also the Chair-elect of the division of small chemical businesses of the American Chemical Society.
Abstract:
Terahertz radiation (T-ray) is the band of energy with corresponding frequencies between 0.1 THz and 30 THz. The non ionizing nature of T-ray is especially suitable for probing human tissues in a non invasive and non contact fashion without any radiation damage. ARP has invented a new mechanism, the dendrimer dipole excitation (DDE) for continuous wave (CW) terahertz generation from a nanomaterial called electro optic dendrimer. The CW DDE source is different than the legacy photoconductive antenna in that it does not require a femtosecond pulsed laser for terahertz generation; yet it generates 10s of milliwatts of power. This source is tunable and produces wide band frequency spectrum. In this paper, we report important applications that are developed using terahertz time domain spectrometer, nanoscanner and 3D imager; all built from the DDE based CW terahertz generator. For example, permeation of nanoparticles through human stratum corneum that leads to bioavailability was measured by a direct method. The stratum corneum was also scanned by the terahertz nanoscanner for its thickness profile which allows quantification of the concentration distribution of the permeated nanoparticles. In addition, reconstructive imaging was conducted for inspecting both the surface and the sub surface. The images reveal that the nanoparticles form an array on the surface of the stratum corneum. The significance of these results will be discussed. Additional examples will be used to illustrate the technology.
Keynote Forum
Raj Mutharasan
Drexel University, USA
Keynote: Biosensors for genes, pathogens, parasites, biomarkers and toxins
Time : 11:00-11:40
Biography:
Raj Mutharasan is the Frank A Fletcher Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA. Currently, he is the Program Director of Nanobiosensing at the NSF. He is a Fellow of AIChE, Fellow of AIMBE and Fellow of the AAAS. He serves on the Editorial Board of Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Springer journal. His research interests include Biosensors and Process Biotechnology. His biosensors research is funded by many federal agencies.
Abstract:
The cantilever sensors are self-excited devices that exhibit high-order modes near ~0.1-1 MHz and show sub-femtogram sensitivity. One significant property is that nonspecific binding is low or absent due to the surface being under constant out of plane oscillation. Several examples of practical importance (E. coli O157:H7, biomarkers, waterborne parasites, food and water toxins, and B. anthracis) will be illustrated using both antibody-based sensors and specific gene sequence as a molecular identifier without an amplification step. We have developed strategies that reduce error rate at ultralow concentration and also methods that enable direct calibration and quantification. The methods, we have developed allow for eliminating false negatives, a critical performance requirement in bioterrorism, medical, environmental and food safety applications.
- Day 01
Session Introduction
Anis Rahman
CEO, Applied Research & Photonics inc., USA
Title: Advances in terahertz spectroscopy nano-scanner and sub-surface 3D imaging for biomaterial
Biography:
Anis Rahman is known for his work on Dendrimer based photonics and terahertz technology. Coined the term “silicon for photonics”, Dr. Rahman’s approach makes it possible to fabricate chip based components from dendrimer for sensing and terahertz generation. Dr. Rahman proposed a new mechanism, “dendrimer dipole excitation” (DDE) that generates continuous wave terahertz over a broad spectrum. Under Dr. Rahman’s leadership, dendrimer technology received prestigious awards including the NASA Nanotech Brief’s nano-50 award and CLEO/Laser Focus World’s Innovation award (2011). Anis Rahman completed MS and PhD from Marquette University (Milwaukee, WI) and a postdoctoral research position at Columbia University (NY). Rahman has contributed more than 100 publications and conference presentations and has produced 12 patents. Currently Dr. Rahman is the president and chief technology officer of Applied Research & Photonics (ARP), a Harrisburg, PA based company. He is also the Chair-elect of the division of small chemical businesses of the American Chemical Society (www.acs-schb.org)
Abstract:
Terahertz radiation (T-ray) is the band of energy with corresponding frequencies between 0.1 THz and 30 THz. The non-ionizing nature of T-ray is especially suitable for probing human tissues in a non-invasive and non-contact fashion without any radiation damage. ARP has invented a new mechanism, the dendrimer dipole excitation (DDE) for continuous wave (CW) terahertz generation from a nanomaterial called electro-optic dendrimer. The CW DDE source is different than the legacy photoconductive antenna in that it does not require a femto-second pulsed laser for terahertz generation; yet it generates 10s of milliwatts of power. This source is tunable and produces wideband frequency spectrum. In this paper we report important applications that are developed using terahertz time-domain spectrometer, nano-scanner and 3D imager; all built from the DDE based CW terahertz generator. For example, permeation of nanoparticles through human stratum corneum that leads to bioavailability was measured by a direct method. The stratum corneum was also scanned by the terahertz nanoscanner for its thickness profile which allows quantification of the concentration distribution of the permeated nanoparticles. In addition, reconstructive imaging was conducted for inspecting both the surface and the sub-surface. The images reveal that the nanoparticles form an array on the surface of the stratum corneum. The significance of these results will be discussed. Additional examples will be used to illustrate the technology.
Eric L Reese
Vice President of Sales & Marketing, SensiQ Technologies Inc., USA
Title: The next step in SPR-based fragment screening
Biography:
Eric L Reese PhD, VP of Sales & Marketing at SensiQ Technologies Inc., has served in various executive-level, sales and marketing roles throughout the label-free biosensors marketplace. He has contributed many scholarly articles on the utility of label-free technologies in drug discovery, development and manufacturing. He also presents globally on analytical instrumentation in the drug discovery.
Abstract:
SensíQ’s patented gradient injection methods provides KD’s from single injections, allowing SensiQ instruments to eliminate secondary screens such as one competitor’s “Affinity Screen”. No other SPR providers have gradient injection technology. SensiQ Pioneer FE customers have demonstrated that a combination of excellent sensitivity, OneStep® gradient injections and the integrated Active Selection software provides superior results over other SPR suppliers. Now SensíQ has developed a new binding competition assay method for rapidly screening fragments, NeXtStep. Like OneStep®, NeXtStep enables full kinetic analysis in single competition injection and competition is clearly seen as a lack of binding in the presence of the competitor. Taken together, OneStep® and NeXtStep enable straightforward fragment screening workflow optimization and thus a faster drug discovery process
Raj Mutharasan
Frank A Fletcher Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Drexel University, USA
Title: Biosensors for genes, pathogens, parasites, biomarkers and toxins
Biography:
Raj Mutharasan is the Frank A. Fletcher Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA. Currently he is the Program Director of Nanobiosensing at the NSF. He is a Fellow of AIChE, Fellow of AIMBE and Fellow of the AAAS. He serves on the Editorial Board of Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology, a Springer journal. His research interests are in biosensors and process biotechnology. He has published extensively in the areas of biosensors, bioreactors and materials processing. His biosensors research is funded by many federal agencies.
Abstract:
The cantilever sensors are self-excited devices that exhibit high-order modes near ~ 0.1 to1 MHz and show sub-femtogram sensitivity. One significant property they demonstrate is that nonspecific binding is low or absent due to the surface being under constant out of plane oscillation. Several examples of practical importance (E. coli O157:H7, biomarkers, waterborne parasites, food and water toxins, and B. anthracis) will be illustrated using both antibody-based sensors and specific gene sequence as a molecular identifier without an amplification step. We have developed strategies that reduce error rate at ultralow concentration and also methods that enable direct calibration and quantification. The methods we have developed allow for eliminating false negatives, a critical performance requirement in bioterrorism, medical, environmental and food safety applications.
Jeroen De Buck
Associate Professor, University of Calgary, Canada
Title: Turning the glucose sensor into a versatile point-of-care platform for the detection of a wide range of biological analytes
Time : 11:40-12:10
Biography:
Jeroen De Buck is an Associate Professor in Bacteriology at the University of Calgary. He has a BSc and MSc Degree in Bio-Engineering from Ghent University and a PhD in Veterinary Medical Sciences. For 17 years he has specialized in the study of bacterial infections in humans and animals, with a focus on the evaluation and development of novel diagnostics. His current research program centers around creating biosensors to detect pathogens, immune responses and disease biomarkers. He has published more than 60 papers in peer reviewed journals and been invited to be a speaker at numerous conferences.
Abstract:
So far, the most successful class of biosensor currently available on the market, is the glucometer used to monitor blood glucose concentrations. Issues with performance in clinical samples, sensitivity and specificity have long been resolved, measuring devices have been miniaturized and production costs optimized. We aimed to develop a technology that makes use of this existing biosensor but adds versatility by increasing the type of analytes that can be analysed. We report trehalase as a novel split enzyme reporter capable of converting various analytes into glucose. Conditional complementation of the trehalase fragments, resulting in trehalose hydrolysis and glucose production, was used to detect antibodies, bacterial cells, viral particles, small molecules, hormones, and cytokines. This was achieved by specific interactions between these analytes and the trehalase fragments through fusions with epitopes, protein antigens, peptide aptamers, single chain fragment variables and dimerizing proteins. By incorporating recombinant prion proteins, the biosensor was modified to also detect spontaneous protein aggregation. In all cases fast detection of the analytes was achieved with a conventional glucometer without the need for rinse steps or other sample preparation. In conclusion, the resulting trehalase-based biosensor platform offers a versatile and convenient method for point-of-care applications as it does not require any sample preparation or handling and can be integrated with existing glucometers or sensors.
Mahmoud Almasri
Associate Professor, University of Missouri, USA
Title: An impedance biosensor for rapid detection of low concentration of escherichiacoli O157:H7
Time : 12:10-12:40
Biography:
Mahmoud Almasri received PhD in Electrical Engineering from Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX, 2001. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Missouri. He was with General Monitors, CA as a research scientist. Then, he was with Albany nanotech, NY as a post doctoral research associate, and he was with Georgia Institute of Technology as a post doctoral fellow. His current research includes biosensors, MEMS power harvester, IR material and detectors, MEMS Coulter counter. His research is mainly funded by NSF, ARO, LWI, and USDA. He is senior IEEE member.
Abstract:
This talk will provide a brief introduction of biosensor development followed by the research in our group related to the design, fabrication and testing of an impedance based biosensor for rapid detection of Escherichia coli O157:H7with low concentration. The performance of the devices was excellent as evidenced by the focusing capability, high sensitivity and rapid turnaround time of 2 hours. The biosensor has the following innovative features: (1) a focusing region to generate p-DEP force to concentrate the bacteria into the center of the micro channel and direct them towards the sensing micro channel which has a diameter smaller than one-third of the first channel while the bulk fluid exits from the outer channel. (2) A region for cell trapping that surrounds the detection electrode and uses vertical electrode pairs to generate negative-DEP forces pushing the cells toward the region of low E-field gradient on top of the detection electrodes. Thus, they trap and facilitate the contact and binding of antigens with the E. coli antibody. (3) Bacteria sensing region consists of interdigitated electrode arrays (IDEA) with varying number of fingers coated with anti-E.coli antibody. As E.coli reaches the sensing region it binds to the antibody on IDEA surface, and results in impedance change. Fabrication of the biosensor was performed on a glass substrate using SU8 negative photoresist to form the microchannel, gold electroplating to form the vertical focusing electrode pair, thin gold film to form the detection electrode, the finger electrodes, traces and bonding pads and PDMS to seal the device. Various low concentration E.coli samples were tested without the trapping electrodes to determine the sensitivity of the biosensor and the lowest detection limit of the biosensor was found to be 39 CFU/ml in total turnaround time of 2 hours. We will also report the pathogens detecting while using both the focusing and trapping regions.
Jeffrey T La Belle
Arizona State University, USA
Title: Translating biosensors to market at the unviersity
Time : 13:30-14:00
Biography:
Jeff La Belle completed his PhD and Masters in Biomedical engineering from Arizona State University and Masters and Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from Western New England University. He is faculty in biomedical and mechanical engineering as well as at the College of Medicine at Mayo Clinic. The lab is home to ~60 students, staff and faculty ranging from physics, nursing, biology, chemistry, biochemistry and biomedical, chemical, computer science, electrical, mechanical and materials engineering. The La Belle Lab Group works on advanced manufacturing of assistive technologies; point of care technologies and wearable health care technologies; and workforce development and engineering education.
Abstract:
Traditional models of research on American campuses have included federal and state and sometimes local funding. Others have found funding through key foundations, some as large as the Gates Foundation, others, very specific or much smaller in support. Lately, a push for a more hybrid model of support has been envisioned at ASU, more entrepreneurial, but that has a broad definition, from faculty start-ups to translational efforts. Ideas that begin with needs, translated to bench tests, the lead to collaborations and initial seed funding, that then sought out non-traditional support are becoming more and more common in academia as federal and state support dwindle. One example will be given where research in tear glucose sensing as an alternative for finger pricking blood glucose levels in diabetes was stymied. Innovative problem solving approaches were developed and performed, with initial support coming from a unique University-Clinical partnership. Further funding for the initial pre-clinical (animal) study came from Angel Firm start up support that led to the patent and then a successful tech transfer occurred and changed the emphasis of the project due to federal regulations and business development methods and models. Tailoring the research and academic content to fit the business and intellectual property models is discussed.
Justin T Baca
University of New Mexico, USA
Title: Shear horizontal surface acoustic wave sensors for rapid detection of enterohemorrhagic escherichia coli
Time : 14:00-14:30
Biography:
Justin Baca is a practicing Emergency Medicine physician who directs a research program centered on novel diagnostics and point-of-care testing. He completed his MD and PhD degrees at the University of Pittsburgh, and his clinical training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. As a physician scientist, he uses his clinical experience to help design and implement new clinical tests for use at or near the point of care. His background in analytical chemistry and physics has allowed him to contribute to the earliest stages of sensor and test development.
Abstract:
Foodborn illness effects millions of US residents each year, and enterohemorrhagic E coli accounts for a large proportion of severe disease. Current food screening and testing protocols rely on traditional culture and PCR methods, and may take multiple days to confirm the presence of pathogenic bacteria in food products. We present a rapid, sensitive, reagent-free detection methodology based on a hand-held Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) sensor platform, which has the potential to greatly shorten the time to detection of pathogenic food contaminants. This SAW biosensor can detect strain-specific enterohemorrhagic E coli at extremely low concentrations and within a few minutes. No added reagents are required, and the sensor opperates in a variety of media including buffered water, growth media, river water, and sewage effluent. This sensing methodology has the potential to disrupt current food screening methods by eleminating the need for relatively lengthy culture and PCR methods. This approach has the potential to greatly reduce the morbidity and mortality from outbreaks of hemorrhagic diarrhea. At the same time, this will save the agricultural industry millions of dollars by preventing or limiting food recalls. Here, we report on the optimization of the SAW biosensor for specific detection of O:157 E coli, and discuss progress in the detection of other important pathogens in foodborn illness.
Ana Belen Gonzalez-Guerrero
Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Spain
Title: Interferometric biosensors for advanced Point-of-Care diagnostics
Time : 14:30-15:00
Biography:
Ana Belén González-Guerrero is a senior researcher at the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. Her expertise is related to Point-of-Care diagnostics systems based on photonics biosensors including the engineering of the devices and optical arrangements, the chemical surface modification and the investigation of bioapplications. She has completed her Ph.D from the University Autonomous of Barcelona in 2012 with the development of a new concept of interferometric biosensor based on a bimodal waveguide. She has published more than 15 papers in peer-reviewed journals, has participated in technology transfer processes and has supervised the work of several master and Ph.D students.
Abstract:
The development of new tools able to provide a delocalized, fast, user-friendly and accurate diagnosis is one of the most pursued goals in the healthcare field. This is driven by the fact that actual detection technologies involve time-consuming steps at analytical laboratories and specialized personnel which highly increment the cost of the analysis. Consequently, there is an urgent need for new diagnostics systems allowing a more flexible, cheaper and cost-effective analysis. In this context, optical biosensors operating by the evanescent field sensing principle are emerging as the next generation of detection technologies. They provide a sensitive, selective and direct detection avoiding purification and amplification steps which usually are affecting the accuracy of the result. In addition, optical biosensors can be integrated in Point-of-Care (PoC) devices; autonomous and portable systems incorporating all the different components required for the detection in order to bring an affordable medical diagnosis testing closer for example to the patient. Among the different optical biosensors, the interferometric ones show the highest sensitivity which is crucial to focus on highly sophisticated biomedical and environmental applications such as the fast detection of sepsis and identification of bacteria, the detection of DNA/RNA-based biomarkers without amplifying, the implantation of on-line controlled systems for in-situ multiplexed detection of sea contaminants, and the quantification of very low quantities of proteins in urine.
Biography:
M Al-Shanawa completed his PhD in 2014 at Sheffield Hallam University (UK), under the supervision of Prof. Alexie Nabok in MERI. He published more than 7 papers and attended about 9 global conferences in UK, France, Croatia, Jordan and Iraq.
Abstract:
Environmental pollution can be defined as any discharge of material or energy into water, land and air, that causes adverse changes to the Earth's ecological balance, or that lowers the quality of life. One of the most dangers contaminations are the heavy metals, which are commonly referred to as trace metals; many trace metals are highly toxic to humans (e.g. Hg, Pb, Cd, Ni, As, Sn) and other living organisms in the environment. There are many techniques used for detection of heavy metals, for example; AAS, ICP-MS and Chromatography. In this project, the bio-cell sensor that included the microorganisms bacteria (E. coli and D. radiodurans) was employed for detection of heavy metals, which is considered to be a cheap (cost effective), simple (easy to use), powerless (portable) and sensitive technique. Characterisation of bacteria samples were carried out using a variety of experimental techniques, i.e. optical methods including optical density measurements, UV-vis spectrophotometer, fluorescent microscopy and spectroscopy for studying light scattering in bacteria samples, and electrical methods both DC and AC are used. The results of the optical methods appeared to be completely different of bacteria response and did not correlate with the (Live/Dead) bacteria ratio, which are due to the effect of (Cd2+, Ni2+) ions on light scattering. The electrical technique was used to study the effect of heavy metals (CaCl2 and CaCl2) on bacteria. The effect of metal salt appeared to be comparable on both E. coli and D. radiodurans bacteria. AC and DC properties of electrochemical solutions that contained E. coli and D. radiodurans bacteria were studied, and the results were compared to and normalised to the results of samples not mixed with metals. Comparative figures can be used to estimate metal concentration and the effect of metal on bacteria.
Sabo Wada Dutse
Hussaini Adamu Federal Polytechnic, Nigeria
Title: Pedot:Pss and gold nanocomposite activated electrochemical sensor for the recognition of fungal DNA
Time : 15:30-16:00
Biography:
Sabo Wada Dutse has completed his PhD at the age of 50 years from Universiti Putra Malaysia in the year, 2014. He is the director of College of Science and Technology, Hussanini Adamu Federal Polytechnic, Kazaure, Jigawa, Nigeria. He has published papers in reputed journals and has been serving as a lecturer and an administrator.
Abstract:
Electrochemical sensors are designed to observe current or potential changes as a result of interaction between the sample matrix surface and the sensor. The major challenges with the application of sensors is the recognition of small sequences in large amounts of double stranded DNA. A designed functionalized Pedot:Pss with gold nanocomposite modified gold electrode has enhanced the sensitivity of the sensor for easy recognition of DNA. Gold nanoparticles solution was synthesized and characterized using Uv-vis spectroscopy and XRD for the formation of nanocomposite with a conductive Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophen)–poly (styrenesulfonate) (Pedot-Pss) film on gold electrode which was also characterized using FE-SEM. Bare and the modified gold electrode surfaces were characterized using cyclic voltammetry (CV) technique for the active surface area. Immobilization of a 20-mer single stranded peptide nucleic acid (ssPNA) probe as the bioreceptor of the sensor was achieved by covalent attachment of the amine group of the capture probe to a carboxylic group of an activated 3,3’-dithiodipropionic acid layer using EDC/NHSS. The sensitivity of the sensor was optimized using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and the sensor demonstrated specific detection for the target concentration ranged between 1.0×10−15M to 1.0×10−9M with a detection limit of 1.55 ×10−18 M. Hybridization of the bioreceptor with perfectly matched target DNA related to Ganoderma boninense fungal disease was successful in TE supporting electrolyte and monitored using a new ruthenium complex [Ru (dppz)2(qtpy)Cl2; dppz=dipyrido [3,2–a:2’,3’-c] phenazine; qtpy=2,2’,-4,4”.4’4”’-quarterpyridyl redox indicator using cylic votammetry (CV). The sensor was also able to detect genomic DNA of Ganoderma boninense (G. boninense) extracted via DNeasy plant mini kit procedure from a cultured fungal isolate harvested from palm oil tree. The probe is found to have good analytical recognition performance.
Paola Fanzio
Delft University of Technology, Netherlands
Title: Wearable device for pH monitoring in wounds
Time : 16:20-16:40
Biography:
Paola Fanzio has completed her PhD in 2012 from the Italian Institute of Technology, Genova Italy. She is currently working as a Post Doc at TU Delft (the Netherlands) under the supervision of Dr Luigi Sasso. She has published 15 papers in peer review journals and authored 2 patents.
Abstract:
The use of wearable and noninvasive miniaturized devices for continuously monitoring health parameters has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of chronic diseases. In particular, chronic wounds need a constant monitoring and their treatment is really expensive for healthcare providers. However, a smart bandage able to protect the wound and to give information about some indicator of infection, such as pH, is still missing. In this context, we present the development and the characterization of a novel wearable all-polymeric device for pH monitoring during wound healing. The layout of the device is based on the presence of 3 micro-electrodes made of Poly(3,4-thylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), a conductive polymer wildly used thanks to its high conductivity and transparency, on a flexible cyclic olefin copolymer foil. The fabrication strategy is based on a high throughput and low cost soft embossing process which couples the efficiency of hot embossing with the use of a cheap soft working stamp. The soft embossing process has been characterized finding the best parameters that allow the pattern to be transfer from the soft working stamp (made of a commercial dimethacrylate polymer) to the substrate till a minimum dimension of 1μm. Moreover, the properties of PEDOT electrodes have been tuned in order to increase the conductivity and decrease the solubility in water by means of a treatment with Ethylene Glycole (EG). Finally, a pH sensitive layer, made of Polyaniline (PANI), has been electropolymerized on the working electrode. Results on pH detection demonstrate the potential of this device for wound healing monitoring.
Anju Joshi
Indian Institute of Technology, India
Title: Tuning the selectivity of nitrogen doped carbon nanotubes using ionic liquid towards electrochemical sensing of dopamine
Time : 16:40-17:00
Biography:
Ms Anju Joshi received her MTech (Nanotechnology) degree from University of Rajasthan, Jaipur in year 2012. She started the pursuit of her PhD degree at the Department of Chemistry, IIT Ropar under the supervision of Dr. Tharamani C.N. in 2013. She has published two papers in peer reviewed journals. Her research interest focuses on development of novel sensors for more effective determination of biomolecules associated with diseased state.
Abstract:
Sensitive and selective determination of dopamine (DA) has drawn considerable attention due to its association with various neurological disorders. However, it is hampered due to presence of ascorbic acid (AA), a common interfering compound in biological fluids whose concentration is 100-1000 times higher than DA. The key point in developing a highly sensitive and selective electrochemical sensor for DA relies on a suitable probe material capable enough to selectively knock down the interference caused due to AA. Nitrogen doped carbonaceous material have shown their enormous potential in determining AA and DA together [1] but regeneration of DA still remains a formidable task. Here we present, the application of IL (1-butyl 3-methylimidazolium tetrafluroborate (Bmim BF4)) and nitrogen doped carbon nanotubes (NCNTs) based composites for the sensitive and selective determination of DA. For this purpose NCNTs were synthesized by post treatment under NH3 at different temperatures[2]. Square wave voltammetry and rotating disc electrode measurements suggests superior sensitivity and selectivity of NCNTs-IL composites towards the oxidation of DA in presence of higher concentration of ascorbic acid (500 μM). A linear response between the peak current and the concentration of DA has been found to be in the concentration range of 0.001 μM-40 μM and 0.001 μM-10 μM for individual and even in presence of 500 μM respectively.
Biography:
Fei Yu has completed his PhD from University of Souther California. He is a Senior Biomedical Engineer in Continuous Glucose Monitore R&D at Medtronic. He has published more than 15 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an technical reviewer for several scientific journals in the biosensing field.
Abstract:
Diabetes Mellitus is one of the most prevalent metabolic disorder which affects over 300 millions of patients worldwide. Diabetes patients are prone to prolonged period of hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia. If uncontrolled, it can pose serious health complications and extremely large financial burden to the patients and healthcare system. In order to acheive best possible blood sugar control and diabetes management, it is crucial to continuously monitor the blood glucose in addition to the chronical biomarkers such as Hemoglobin A1c. Continous Glucose Monitoring (CMG) devices has existed for over a decade and is now receiving increasingly more attention from patients and healthcare providers world-wide, thanks to the advancement of sensing technologies as well as communication intrastructures, which allows connected care more feasible than ever before. This presentatin serves to provide a technological overview of the commercially available CGM products as well as some of the novel CGM systems undergoing clinical trials. The scope of this overview covers operation principles for each sensing mechanism, and will provide a discussion of respective advantages and disadvantages for enzymatic vs. non-enzymatic reactions, electrochemical vs. optical sensing, and non-invasive vs. subcutaneous vs. implantable approaches. The presentation will also comment on the technical challenges faced by today’s CGM systems and the future research directions.
Sonu Gandhi
Amity University, India
Title: A chemiluminescence approach for the detection of morphine in urine samples
Biography:
Sonu Gandhi has completed her PhD at the age of 28 years from Institute of Microbial Technology and Panjab University and postdoctoral studies from Campus IFOM-IEO, Milan, Italy. She was a visiting scientist in University of Washington, Seattle, USA. Recently, She has joined Amity University as Assistant Professor in Department of Biotechnology. She has published 12 papers in reputed journals and two US patents and has been serving as an editorial board member of Journal of Nanomaterials.
Abstract:
A sensitive immunoassay for morphine was developed by chemiluminescent approach. The anti-MAM antibody was developed for monoacetyl morphine (MAM) and labeled with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) for the development of competitive assay. The method is based on the competition between labeled antibodies and free drug in spiked urine samples. A hapten (MAM) was functionalized with chloroacetic acid chemistry to generate hydroxyl moiety and conjugated with carrier protein (BSA). The biophysical characterization was done by various spectroscopic methods such as UV-Vis, Fluorometer, CD, IR, MALDI-TOFF and was used as an immunogen for the generation of anti-MAM antibody. A binding assay was performed and high titer of antibody (1:64,0000) was obtained and the relative binding affinity constant (Kaff) of anti-MAM antibody was 3.1×107 l/mol. Under competitive conditions, the IC50 value for heroin, mono acetyl morphine (MAM), morphine and codeine were in the range of 0.01-0.08 ng/ml respectively. The developed chemiluminescence based competitive assay could detect heroin and its metabolites in standard and urine samples up to 0.01 ng/ml that indicates fairly good precision with linear range, reactivity and therefore could be implement in illegal trafficking.
Mahdi Mohammadi
Dublin City University, Ireland
Title: Lumped-Element approach for digital simulation of centrifugal microfluidic systems
Biography:
Mahdi Mohammadi is a postdoctoral researcher in the Biomedical Diagnostic Institute (BDI) at Dublin City University. He has more than 10 years’ experience in various fields such as Lab on a Chip& microfluidics developing products, point of care device (design simulation and microfabrication), Oil and gas projects (project coordinator) and power plant analysis. Currently, he is the director of SIMDISC (microfluidic simulation) project for different application, i.e. RNA extraction, centrifugal analyzer for liver assay, Bioassays in Whole Blood, Point-of- Care applications, ELISA kit. He has completed his Ph.D. (Microfluidics and Mechanical engineering) in the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) in Barcelona, Spain. He developed multiple point of care and Lab on chip projects based on active and passive microfluidic methods which comprised different steps: design, various microfabrication techniques to generate Mold & microchannel (photolithography, soft lithography, laser cutting, glass etching, 3D printing), numerical analysis (COMSOL-Ansys) of point of care microfluidic device and experimental testing. He has published several papers in reputed journals.
Abstract:
Since the 1990s centrifugal “Lab-on-a-Disc” (LoaD) systems has evolved into an exciting opportunity and mature technology platform. These centrifugal microfluidic systems already entered a broad range of applications such as life-science research, biomedical point-of-care diagnostics, environmental monitoring, immunoassays analysis, nucleic acid testing. Over the last decade, simulation has a key role in developing new products, specially for a dynamic system. Simulation is a vital step for microfluidic design and analysis. The typical mesh-based simulation methods, i.e. FEA (Finite Element Analysis) is a very time-consuming with convergence problems however these methods are very accurate. To circumvent this limitation, Lumped element simulation proposed for centrifugal microfluidic network analysis based on the electric circuit which is quite fast and fit for parameter variations. In addition, could simulate fluid flow and pressure distribution through multi elements serial and parallel architectural elements. The centrifugal flow control elements and their networking to complex microfluidic circuitry translate into equivalent, lumped element descriptors. Each lumped element will have certain free parameters, for instance, corresponding to resistances or capacitances. Over the recent years, Ducrée group in DCU has developed a special breed of microfluidic Labâ€onâ€aâ€Chip (LoaC) systems based on centrifugal liquid handling for applications in biomedical pointâ€ofâ€care diagnostics and the life sciences. For the first time, they introduced a form of logical flow control on these soâ€called Labâ€onâ€aâ€Disc (LoaD) platforms which functions on the analogy of digital microelectronics. Based on this analogy, the lumped element simulation, have been implemented for the centrifugal microfluidic network to obtain an efficient microfluidic design. Multiple laboratory unit operations (LUOs) such as sample take-up and liquid transport, metering, aliquoting, routing, mixing, valving, washing have been simulated using Lumped element simulation for different application i.e. RNA extraction, centrifugal analyzer for liver assay, Bioassays in Whole Blood, Point-of- Care applications, ELISA kit
Biography:
Barindra Sana is a biotechnology research professional currently working as a Research Scientist at the Agency for Science Technology And Research (A*STAR), Singapore. He has completed his Masters in biotechnology and PhD from Jadavpur University, India and persued his postdoctoral research at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He has research interest in multiple area of industrial biotechnology including microbial bioprospecting, molecular microbiology, enzyme engineering, biomass conversion, fermentation and downstream processing. Currently he is working on microbial/enzymatic conversion of biomass to biofuel or value-added chemicals. He has published several research articles and review in internationally reputed journals.
Abstract:
Lignin is a potential renewable raw material for synthesis of various value-added chemicals that can substitute fossil-derived consumer products. Huge amounts of lignin is produced as a by-product of paper industry while cellulosic components of plant biomass are utilized for the production of paper pulp. Inspite of vast potential, lignin remains the least exploited component of plant biomass due to its extremely complex cross-linked three dimensional structures. Nature has provided a few enzymes known to degrade lignin biomass; however, till date there are no efficient processes available for enzymatic degradation of these extremely complex molecules. Development of effective lignin degrading enzymes may be possible by amending activity of some currently available enzymes, using protein engineering techniques. Directed evolution is one such protein engineering tool that could be used for this purpose but application of this technique for improving efficiency of potential lignin degrading enzymes is limited due to lack of an effective high throughput screening method. With an objective of detecting the lignin degradation products (LDPs), we identified E. coli promoters that are up-regulated by vanillin and a few other potential lignin degradation products. Seven potential promoters were identified by RNA-Seq analysis of E. coli BL21 cells pre-exposed to a sub-lethal dose of vanillin for different exposure times. A ‘very green fluorescence protein’ (vGFP) gene was recombinantly placed under control of these promoters within a customized plasmid and transformed in E. coli BL21 cells to generate the whole cell biosensors. Fluorescence of two biosensors enhanced significantly while grown in the presence of the lignin degradation products (e.g. vanillin, acetovanillone and guaiacol), which was detected by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis. The sensors did not show any increase of fluorescence by the presence of lignin, lignin model compounds or non-specific chemicals. The fluorescence change by the presence of LDPs was dose-dependent; one sensor can detect vanillin at the concentration as low as 0.5 mM.