US-Brazil Workshop on Biosensors: Bioanalytics to Device Integration; November 8-10, 2017; Federal University of ABC, Santo Andre, Sao Paulo, Brazil

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The US-Brazil workshop on biosensors will bring together leading US and Brazilian scientists and researchers from multidisciplinary areas of engineering, physics, chemistry, and biology. The workshop, co-funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering, will take place November 8-10, 2017, at the Federal University of ABC, Santo Andre, which is located in the outskirts of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The workshop will bring together roughly 100 participants including 25 speakers (from US and Brazil) and approximately 70 graduate students and scientists from Brazil. Infectious diseases such as visceral Leishmaniasis, malaria, and tuberculosis are endemic to several parts of South America, Africa, and Asia. Although there have been major breakthroughs in micro/nanotechnology based diagnosis for several infectious diseases, many pathogens lack vaccines or drugs. In such cases, early detection is imperative to prevent patient mortality. The goal of the workshop is to provide a roadmap for the development of low-cost sensitive detectors for vector-borne diseases by integrating biomaterials research and semiconductor technology. The proposed workshop enables a holistic approach towards the development and integration of low-cost diagnostic tools that will have a great impact on global health by involving researchers with complementary skill sets with Brazilian scientists working in areas of bioanalytics, biocompatible protein-based and other nano-materials, and US scientists specializing in semiconductor technology, optical, magnetic and electrical detection, and processes involving scalable integration of circuits. New collaborative efforts between scientists from the US and Brazil are envisaged, paving the way for training students in bioelectronics, sensing, and diagnostics. Such collaborative efforts will open up opportunities for student exchange programs between the two countries, and the development of new curricula for graduate and undergraduate education both in the US and Brazil targeting low-cost biosensors in a cross-disciplinary fashion.The proposed workshop will provide a unique platform for researchers to discuss the recent innovations, trends, and multitude of challenges encountered in the areas of new materials for biosensors, analytical tools, and integration of biosensing circuits using complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor and other scalable technology. Although polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay have become common tools for clinical diagnosis, they are not ideal for mass screening in endemic areas of a particular disease. The integration of semiconductor technology with biology is essential for the development of fast low-cost sensors. There are several challenges in integrating semiconductor technology with bio-interfaces. The workshop will address these challenges by focusing on new materials development, integrating electrolytic gated transistors, and seamless integration of microfluidic arrays incorporating different transducing mechanisms including electrical, magnetic and optical integrability. The multidisciplinary approach of the workshop not only advances basic science and technology in terms of materials development and providing new insights into physical phenomena; it promises to have a huge impact in the development of low-cost portable sensors which will be a game-changer for fast detection, and could revolutionize the mechanism of detection, clinical diagnosis, and improvement of therapeutic handling of several vector-borne diseases.