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SUMMARY:Electrokinetic Micro- and Nanofluidic Technologies for Quantitativ
 e Detection of Viral Nucleic Acids
DTSTART:20161027T133000
DTSTAMP:20260407T051242Z
UID:1020561307e981163db84ef4e2974ee70c0f0cdbda5f7878bfa38c71
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Prof.  Sumita Pennathur\, University of California\, Santa Ba
 rbara\, CA (USA)\nJOINT MICRO and BIOENGINEERING SEMINAR\n\nAbstract:\nRap
 idly evolving acute respiratory infectious diseases (for example\, Influen
 za\, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)\, Middle East Respiratory Sy
 ndrome (MERS)\, and West Nile Flavivirus (WNF)) now have significantly del
 eterious impacts on human health and economic productivity worldwide. Due 
 to their highly contagious nature\, and rapid negative impact on human hea
 lth and economies\, these diseases require developing a simple\, high thro
 ughput\, and immediate (within 30 minutes) screening methodology that can 
 affordably and accurately determine virus diagnosis\, so that treatments c
 an be administered in a timely fashion. Furthermore\, the expense of anti-
 virals now prohibits broad distribution even in developed countries. The d
 iagnostic approaches that we are developing in the Pennathur lab enables r
 apid regionally based deployment of medications to stymie the spread of vi
 ruses. These approaches include (1) the development of a nanofluidic condu
 ctivity sensor for general nucleic acid detection\, (2) fluorescent silver
  nanocluster DNA probes (AgNC-DNA) combined with microfluidic capillary el
 ectrophoresis (mCE)\, to detect and identify DNA sequences from HepA\, Hep
 B and HepC viruses\, and (3) microfluidic tangential flow filtration (μTF
 F) of blood and serum for efficient on-chip sample preparation.\n\nSpecifi
 cally\, we have developed a novel nanofluidic-based platform for the effic
 ient detection of nucleic acids. The transduction method is label-free\, i
 nducing the formation DNA complexes that result in changes in flow velocit
 y and current in a nanofluidic channel. This innovation takes into account
  the changes in surface and bulk conductivity in a nanochannel due to the 
 concentration of ions in the bulk. Furthermore\, we have developed a metho
 d for modifying a low cost\, molecular beacon-like AgNC-DNA probe so that 
 multiple DNA sequences can be detected and identified simultaneously and r
 apidly using microfluidic capillary electrophoresis. As a demonstration\, 
 we used this technique to design probes for nucleic acid targets of Hepati
 tis A\, B and C virus. Finally\, to truly make this work translational\, w
 e have developed a microfluidic based method for biological sample filtrat
 ion. Such a method allows for facile integration with the above diagnostic
  sensors\, and uses tangential flow filtration methods to effectively isol
 ate targets of interest.\n\nBio:\nDr. Pennathur received her B.S. and M.S.
  in Aerospace and Aeronautical Engineering from M.I.T. (2000 and 2001 resp
 ectively)\, and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University (
 2006). Prior to joining UCSB in 2007\, she performed postdoctoral studies 
 at both Sandia National Laboratories and University of Twente. Since arriv
 ing at UCSB\, Pennathur has contributed significantly to the fields of nan
 ofluidics and interfacial science. She has been able to push the envelope 
 in both theoretical and experimental characterization of nanofluidic chann
 els. Furthermore\, she has discovered novel nanoscale concentration mechan
 isms which focus analytes of interest within nanofluidic channels and has 
 demonstrated unique quantitative separations of various biomolecules. Fina
 lly\, she has developed a novel fabrication process for on-chip detection 
 of biomolecules\, which has the potential to revolutionize bio-analytical 
 devices\, eliminating the need for laborious optical tagging of samples. T
 hese major contributions have been disseminated in the form of over 60 arc
 hived journal publications\, books or conference papers\, 3 patent applica
 tions\, and over 50 invited presentations. Notable awards include the DARP
 A young faculty award (2008)\, the UC Regents Junior Faculty Fellowship (2
 009)\, and the PECASE (presidential early career award in science and engi
 neering) award (2010)\, and the Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce Innovato
 r of the Quarter Award (2012).
LOCATION:AAC 0 08 http://map.epfl.ch/?room=aac008
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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