Macromolecular Bioelectronics Encoded for Biocompatibility, Self-assembly, and Degradability

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Next-generation electronics will autonomously respond to local stimuli and be harmonious with the human body, opening doors for remarkable opportunities in environmental monitoring, advanced consumer products, and health diagnostics for personalized therapy. For example, fully biodegradable electronics promise to accelerate the integration of electronics with health by obviating the need for costly device recovery surgeries that also significantly increase infection risk. The underpinnings of such next-generation electronics is the development of new electronic materials with a wide suite of functional properties beyond our current toolkit. The overarching long-term vision of my research program is to leverage the rich palette of polymer chemistry to design new materials encoded with information for self-assembly, degradability, and electronic transport. I envision that the creation of these multifunctional materials and an understanding of how they are utilized to construct next-generation electronics will serve as a transformative platform to address previously inaccessible challenges impacting health and sustainability, and in turn create new technologies and markets in Canada. To this end, I propose to focus on three interrelated research thrusts, detailed below, which are aligned with the challenges within the natural sciences and engineering: Research Thrust 1: Self-assembly of sequence-controlled macromolecular electronics Bottom-up bioelectronics bridges well-defined molecular recognition via multivalent interactions with electronically active materials. The self-assembly of sequence-controlled electron-conducting macromolecules into constructs that resemble electronic components and the resulting signal response will be explored to build closed-loop modulation systems for autonomous biosensing and regulation, useful for diagnostics and therapy. Research Thrust 2: Functionalized bottlebrush elastomers for bioelectronic interfaces Advances in implantable electronics, such as brain-computer interfaces, are changing our understanding and treatment of diseases, but these devices fail in long-term implantation due to a mismatch in mechanical and chemical surface properties. Functionalized bottlebrush elastomers are an unexplored materials system for constructing bioelectronic devices, where both the chemical and mechanical properties can be readily tuned through molecular design. Research Thrust 3: Biodegradation of conjugated polymers into natural by-products Biodegradable and recyclable electronics will transform our lives. Beyond transience, the degradation by-products must be non-toxic and bioresorbable. Carotenoids, which resemble oligo-acetylene, are promising building blocks due to their documented single molecule conductance and biodegradability. My team will establish a new polymeric class of semiconductors and conductors that degrade into natural by-products, such as carotene.