POWRE: Electronic Biosensors: An Integration of Nanotechnology with Molecular Biology

这项POWRE奖建议的研究重点是让PI获得新的实验技能和广泛的分子生物学知识。PI建议通过在她的合作者D.A.诺特曼博士在普林斯顿大学分子生物学系的实验室工作来实现这一点。在那里，她将专注于将纳米技术与分子生物学相结合。具体地说，她将开发一种集成微芯片，使用微流控通道和纳米电极的组合，可以测量单个电池的介电特性。这些介电特性与细胞的DNA含量之间的相关性将被研究。由于脱氧核糖核酸含量分析和相关测量，如S相比例的测定，是检测癌细胞的潜在有用策略，建议的设备将成为癌细胞的“芯片”检测器。PI将在这个项目中学习如何培养和操纵细胞。

The focus of the proposed research of this POWRE award is for the PI to acquire new experimental skills and a broad-based knowledge of molecular biology. The PI proposes to accomplish this by working in the laboratory of her collaborator, Dr. D. A. notterman, in the Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University. There, she will focus her efforts toward integrating nanotechnology with molecular biology. Specifically, she will be developing an integrated microchip which, using a combination of microfluidic channels and nanoelectrodes, can measure the dielectric properties of single cells. Correlations between these dielectric properties and the DNA content of cells will be examined. Since DNA-content analysis and related measurements, such as the determination of S-phase fraction, are potentially useful strategies for detecting cancer cells, the proposed device will be an "on-chip" detector of cancer cells. The PI will be learning how to culture and manipulate cells for this project.