Biosensors
Hybrid Silicon-Biomolecular Sensor Technology
We are collaborating on a project to develop hybrid bio-molecular nanodevices and systems for potential application as biosensors in areas such disease detection, pharmaceutical drug-testing, drug-delivery systems, and the health monitoring arena. Hybrid bio-molecular devices involve interfacing biological matter with electronic circuitry to create a silicon chip that can interpret and convert molecular changes into real-time digital information. One of the goals is to develop a platform for converting biomolecular signals into electrical signals for integrated sensing applications.
A lipid bilayer is suspended across a 40 nm nanopore fabricated in silicon. This device represents an integrated artificial cell membrane on a silicon chip. A single protein ion channel is inserted into the membrane that conducts current from one side of the membrane to the other. The stochastic signal that results allow the identification of specific analytes in solution. This platform can also be used to identify protein structure, including mutations that can impact the cell's function. The design is based on mature patch-clamp methods used in biology.
Other applications include traditional uses of ion-channel measurements in drug-testing, where ion channels and the patch clamp measurement technique are used to study the response of channels that are targeted by specific drugs (for example, those regulating the heart). The patch clamp measurement requires a number of complex instruments and is a traditional laboratory-scale technique used for measuring ionic currents through channels.
Our efforts are part of a multi-institutional grant, Engineered Bio-Molecular Nano-Devices/Systems (MOLDICE) Program within DARPA' s Defense Sciences Office, involves researchers from Rush Medical Hospital in Chicago and six other partner universities: UCLA, Texas A & M, University of Florida, University of Utah, Rush Medical, Oxford University and the Max Planck Polymer Institute in Mainz. The ASU PIs are Dr. Stephen Goodnick, professor of electrical engineering and associate VP for research, and Dr. Trevor Thornton , also a professor of electrical engineering and Director of the Center for Solid State Electronics Research (CSSER).
This description was adapted the MOLDICE program, Dr. Anantha Krishnan (DARPA), Bayley and Cremer, Nature, 413, 226(2001), & http://www.fulton.asu.edu/fulton/r
Representative Publications:
1. L. PETROSSIAN, S.J. WILK, P. JOSHI, S. HIHATH, J.D. POSNER, S.M. GOODNICK and T.J. THORNTON. 2007. High Aspect Ratio Cylindrical Nanopores in Silicon-On-Insulator Substrates, Solid State Electronics, Solid-State Electronics, 51, 1391-1397.
