Bioelectronics and Biosensors

Recommended Prerequisites

Requires undergraduate entry-level familiarity with electrical fields/forces, resistors, capacitors, and electrical circuits.

Teaching Methods

A combination of seminars will be used together with the realization of a research project in the laboratory where the student, with the support of his tutor, characterizes or develops a particular biosensor or bioelectronic device.

The student will be evaluated in two components; (a) a written exam with a weight of 30% in the final grade and, (b) an experimental research work that will focused on the characterization of a biosensor or a bioelectronic component, or on the acquisition and processing of bioelectric signals. This component will have in the evaluation the weight of 70%.

Learning Outcomes

Bioelectronics involves the application of the principles of electronic engineering to biology, medicine and health sciences. An important aspect is the development of an interface between biological materials (cells, tissues, and organs) and electronic components. This course starts by introducing the concepts of bioelectricity and biosensors. The sources and use of fields and electric currents in the context of biological systems and problems are discussed. The skills to be acquired are:

- Understand the principles of development of biosensors and bioelectronic devices.

- Understand the principles of signal transduction between biology and electronics.

- Know the factors that affect the performance and the detection limits of a bioelectronic device or a biosensor.

- Make design and selection decisions in response to a measurement and performance problem in the use of biosensors and bioelectronic devices.

- Be able to assess the challenges and emerging technologies in the field.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

1- Fundamental elements of biosensors, bio-inspired devices, hybrid devices that use living microorganisms.

2- Electronic components to operate in liquid environments. Transistors with double-electrical layers, application and measurement of electrical potentials in liquid media.

3- Electrochemical biosensors.

4- Optical based techniques in biosensors and their applications.

5- Small signal impedance techniques, cell impedance spectroscopy, frequency response, extraction of parameters using equivalent electrical circuits.

6- Fundamentals about electrical noise, noise in biological systems, noise generated by electrical double-layers, strategies to minimize noise and improve device detection limit.

7- Devices to communicate with microorganisms and cells.

8- Microfluidic systems and “Lab-on-chip” platforms.

9- Implantable bio-electronic devices.

10- Bio-inspired electronic devices and neuromorphic computing.

11- Brain-computer interfaces.

Head Lecturer(s)

Henrique Leonel Gomes

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Exam: 30.0%
Project: 70.0%

Bibliography

Hung Cao, Todd Coleman, Tzung K. Hsiai, and Ali Khademhosseini (Editors), 2020, Interfacing Bioelectronics and Biomedical Sensing, Springer International Publishing, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-34467-2.

Walid Zgallai (Editor), 2020, Biomedical Signal Processing and Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare, Academic Press.

Akio Yasuda and Wolfgang Knoll (Editors), 2019, Organic Bioelectronics for Life Science and Healthcare,  Materials Research Forum LLC, DOI: 10.21741/9781644900376.

Nwesha Khasnobish, Indranil Banerjee, Heinz-Bernhard Kraatz, Sandip Bag, Kunal Pal, Usha Kuruganti (Editors), 2019, Bioelectronics and Medical Devices: From Materials to Devices - Fabrication, Applications and Reliability,  Woodhead Publishing, Elsevier, DOI: 10.1016/C2017-0-00496-2.

Onur Parlak, Alberto Salleo, Anthony Turner (Editors), 2020, Wearable Bioelectronics, Elsevier, DOI: 10.1016/C2017-0-00863-7.

Sandro Carrara and Krzysztof Iniewski (Editors), 2015, Handbook of Bioelectronics: Directly Interfacing El