TEMPLATED BIOSENSORS IN SEMICONDUCTING SYSTEMS

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One of the objectives of this research is to develop the necessary basic research to allow the construction of biomolecule sensitive electrodes. Such electrodes, if they could be used in-vivo to monitor blood glucose levels, could be used to regulate insulin flow in diabetic patients. Another class of biomolecules that are of interest are certain diamines. Some diamines are formed in rapidly dividing cells, such as cancer cells, and a sensitive electrode could be used for early cancer detection. These diseases are of interest to our Navajo students as the incidence of diabetes in Native American Indian populations is quite high. Cancer is of interest to all groups of people. Our approach is to build our detectors in an organic semiconducting matrix which has been templated for a specific biomolecule. For glucose, the templates will be made from a borate containing monomer; for the diamine the templates will be made from a carboxyl containing monmer. The semiconducting polymer backbone will be made from polythiophene and polypyrrole. The second objective of this research is the involvement of Native American students in the project. We have had an ongoing involvement with Native American students for the past ten years and wish to continue. Each student will get their own project, develop it, write about it and present the information at scientific meetings. The students will be allowed to make decisions about the research and be involved in writing scientific papers.