(Invited) Designer Electrochemical Biosensors: Developing Guidelines Driven By Bioanalytical Applications

Biosensors promise to impact many fields ranging from basic research of biological systems to the development of biomedical devices poised to revolutionize modern healthcare. The number of methods for developing biosensors continues to grow at an impressive rate representing the cutting-edge interface of chemistry and many other fields. This talk takes a step back to understand the fundamentals of sensor performance of a class of electrochemical-based sensors. We utilize a combination of electrochemistry, biochemistry, and biomolecular design and engineering to build better biosensors. By developing models for the electrochemical response and understanding the structure and function of nucleic acids (e.g., aptamers) and proteins (e.g., ion channels) we can tune the response of a sensor based on the bioanalytical application of the sensor. Coupling these designer sensors with micro- and nanoscale electrodes further enables us to tune sensor performance for applications ranging from single-cell analysis to implantable devices for real-time therapeutic monitoring.