Past Seminars

The weekly seminar series organized by CNT and the Molecular Engineering and Sciences Institute provides a forum for bringing national and international leaders in nanoscale science and technology to campus, and for graduate students enrolled in our Dual Ph.D. program in Nanotechnology to present their research.

All seminars are held on Tuesdays from 2:30 to 3:20 PM in Johnson Hall Room 102 (North end of building and across from MolE).

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Seminars

2012-12-04

Microtip Immunosensor for Point-of-Care Diagnosis of Tuberculosis

Assoc. Prof. Jae-Hyun Chung, University of Washington - Mechanical Engineering
Speaker's Website
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Point-of-care (POC) diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB), one of the most widely spread diseases in the globe today, has been critically demanded over a century. To date, various diagnostic methods have been developed for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) including polymerase chain reaction, latex agglutination, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, etc. However, the performance is still not satisfactory. In this talk, an immunofluorescence microtip sensor is described that detects MTB cells in sputum in 25 minutes. Concentration mechanisms based on flow circulation and electric field are combined at different scales to concentrate target bacteria in 1 mL samples onto the surface of microscale tips. To study the specific capturing mechanism on microtip surface, the behavior of target bacteria on antibody-functionalized surface is investigated in relation to a capillary-induced effect. The experimental and analytical study reveals that target cells are captured on the functionalized surface as a beach-mark form due to immunocomplex formation, which amplfies the immunofluorescence signal on microtips.