Department of Bio Medical Engineering seminar 22.12.19

Precision Medicine - Translational Sensors for Real-Time Health Monitoring

Hadar Ben-Yoav

Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Complex biological systems – whether physiological or environmental – may be viewed through a prism of biomarkers. Biomarkers are thus used in investigations of molecular mechanisms underlying diseases and as indicators of the presence and status of certain diseases. However, the exploitation of biomarkers for routine early detection and surveillance of diseases is hampered by the lack of sensitive, but easy to use, diagnostic kits for real-time analysis at the point of test. This need could be met by the development of an electrochemical sensor for detecting in a biofluid (such as blood, urine, or sweat) disease-associated molecules, including the redox molecules that could serve as biomarkers for cancers, inflammation, and neurodegenerative diseases. In this talk, I will review the state-of-the-art of electrochemical micro-sensors, challenges, and potential applications. I will present our recent studies of electrochemical micro-sensors to rapidly probe redox biomarkers in biofluids in three modes of detection: (1) direct detection of a specific biomarker, (2) indirect detection by influencing the masking signals that interfere with the biomarker’s electrochemical signature, and (3) detection of a profile of biomarkers using array of micro-sensors and intelligent chemometric models. We will also demonstrate the proof of concept detection in real-world scenarios by (1) amplifying antipsychotic clozapine electrochemical signature in untreated whole blood by using microelectrodes modified with electrocatalytic films (such as reduced graphene oxide) that will provide better schizophrenia treatment outcome, (2) shifting the interfering signature generated by other redox molecules in the biofluid (such as uric acid) by using electrodes modified with the biopolymer chitosan encapsulating electrocatalytic carbon nanotubes, and (3) utilizing an array of electrodes modified with various films and selectivities to differentiate electrochemical fingerprints from urine that are related to depression.