Affiliated Faculty
Omowunmi Sadik’s research centers on interfacial molecular recognition and synthesis of functional polymeric platforms for sensing, remediation and cell recognition. Her laboratory has pioneered metal-enhanced electrochemical detection, combining advanced nanomaterials with electrochemistry for the development of smart sensors for proteins, nucleic acids, toxins and cancer cells. Through Department of Defense funding, Sadik and collaborators have also prototyped a new ultrasensitive portable capillary sensor (UPACTM). UPAC is self-contained, battery operated and equipped with remote monitoring, automated sample handling, sterilization and immobilization and fluidics control modules. Rapid UPAC assays were reported for biological agent spores and E-coli with four-fold lower detection limits than conventional ELISA techniques in about 15 minutes. Sadik is a professor in the Department of Chemistry.
Qinru Qiu’s research focuses on advanced design methodologies in microelectronics and power-aware design of computing systems. She and her research team have experience with hardware acceleration and parallel implementation of computation-intensive scientific applications, including DNA codeword search, cognitive pattern recognition and data classification of chemical sensor arrays. This research provides 100X~1000X speedups in the overall computation time compared to a system implemented using conventional personal computers. Funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Department of Defense, the Advanced Microelectronics and Power-aware Systems (AMPS) Lab led by Qiu is equipped with state-of-the-art hardware and software systems for low-power VLSI circuit design and high-performance/reconfigurable computing. Qiu is an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Junghyun Cho’s group is working on processing science and microstructure design of oxide thin films that can work as a sensing layer, as well as a protective layer for sensing components. Cho is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Susannah Gal, an associate professor of biology, is using scintillation proximity assay (SPA) beads to measure the changes in p53 DNA binding in different cancer cells.
Wayne Jones’ research involves the design of molecular wire sensors for environmental and biological applications. With support from the NIH, his research team has developed a new series of fluorescent conjugated polymer sensors for toxic transition metals, anions, and other aqueous contaminants. Recent advances have built on this sensory platform to develop turn-on and turn-off fluorescent sensors, disposable thin films for use in field detection and array-based sensors that can provide a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis of natural and industrial water systems. Jones is a professor in the Department of Chemistry.
Alistair Lees, a professor of chemistry, is investigating several metal-organic compounds that exhibit room-temperature emission. Several of these are able to act as sensors of anions, with the luminsecence of the complexes being particularly sensitive to fluoride and cyanide in solution.
Howard Wang’s research focuses on materials and processing aspects in advancing sensing technologies. His group’s recent studies involve synthesizing carbon nanotubes, metal oxide nanowires and metal nanoparticles; dispersing nano-objects in solutions, gels, polymers and ceramics; assembling them into ordered structures and fabricating flexible electronics, particularly gas sensors and biosensors, for applications. High-sensitivity hydrogen sensors have been fabricated by printing Pd nanoparticles on plastic substrates. By printing Au nanoparticle electrodes to form 3D biosensors, enzyme activities in the bulk can be monitored. Wang is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
N. Eva Wu, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, focuses on the system aspect of sensors. Working with Ron Miles’ acoustic sensor research team, she analyzes and designs feedback controllers for the acoustic sensors to improve measurement quality and performance robustness. Wu also works on finding ways to cluster sensors so as to provide highly available outputs of high fidelity in sensor systems in the face of loss of sensing nodes and data, as well as on adaptive filtering techniques that can mask sensor faults in safety critical control systems.
Mohammad Younis’ group is developing a new generation of smart micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) sensors that can also work as actuators if the sensed physical quantity exceeds a pre-determined threshold. One project will lead to hybrid sensors and actuators that detect gases and harmful substances in the environment, such as monoparticles, based on novel electro-mechanical principles. These devices can act as electric switches upon the detection of the harmful material to trigger a desirable action, such as informing authorities of the problem. Another of Younis’ projects relates to the development of low-cost switches triggered by acceleration and impact, which can be used, for example, to trigger airbags in cars and to protect laptops and cell phones. Younis is an assistant professor of mechanical engineering.