This project "US-Turkey Planning Visit: Collaborative Research in the Development of Biosensors for DNA Mutations Assay, July 2010" supports the travel of Dr. Chenzhong, Florida International University and three graduate students to Turkey to meet with Dr. Arzum E. Gursan at Ege University in Izmir and with Dr. Nilgun Batdogan at Istanbul Technical University to gain knowledge of nanomaterial preparation and impedance modeling and to develop a viable plan for a US-Turkey collaborative project to be submitted to NSF and to TUBITAK (NSF counterpart in Turkey). They also plan to visit Koc University in Istanbul to visit its micro-nanotechnologies research center.
Intellectual Merits: The merits of the planned research include an improved understanding of DNA mutant detection using a novel magnetic nanoparticle based electrochemical impedance DNA biosensor. This understanding includes detail of the design of the sensing chip, synthesis and functionalization of magnetic nanoparticles, training of electrochemical impedance technique and data modeling. Eventually this understanding will be applied to test the feasibility of developing chip based DNA biosensors. This collaboration will enable the research by sharing complementary expertise and research resources between the two groups and create a project that will address a critical challenge in the field of nanotechnology.
Broader Impacts: The visiting team consists of the PI and three graduate students with a spread of expertise and varying levels of experience working on the MEMS/NEMS fabrication and biomedical device testing. The project has the potential to create broader benefits to society with the possible commercialization of the DNA biosensor technology to expand the scope of these efforts beyond fundamental research. One graduate student will be primarily trained on the synthesis and functionalization of magnetic nanoparticles. The other graduate student will focus on the training of electrochemical impedance technique and the data modeling and the third will bring the experiences to the students in Dr. Gursan?s lab in a program specific for device design such as AUTOCAD. The preliminary results obtained will be used for the NSF- TUBITAK proposal. The young researchers will be exposed to state-of the-art facilities in an international setting. Additionally, web-based communication will be on-going after the international experience to foster a continuing relationship between the two group?s students. The project activities will advance new technology development while promoting teaching, training and learning and establishing strong ties between the U.S. and Turkey in biosensor research.
This project is co-funded by the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (CBET) and the Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE).
This research planning visit with Dr. Arzum Erdem’s analytical chemistry group at EGE University aims to develop a detailed research plan for NSF-TUBITAK grant applications. The PI worked with Dr. Erdem closely during the visit to make long term collaboration strategies and the detail of the design of the DNA biosensing chips to be properly integrated with the detection mechanism invented by Dr. Erdem’s lab. This planning trip made it possible for the PI’s team to gain the knowledge of nanomaterial preparation and impedance modeling and strengthen collaborations with Dr. Erdem’s lab to develop a viable plan for the NSF-TUBITAK research proposal. A joint proposal to NSF-TUBITAK to develop biosensors for breast cancer DNA mutation has been developed. One journal paper based on the joint research efforts has been submitted to the journal of Electrochim Acta for review. The visiting team consists of the PI and three graduate students with a spread of expertise and varying levels of experience working on the MEMS/NEMS fabrication and biomedical device testing. The group of students including two female students was sent to Dr. Erdem’s lab in June 2011. One student was primarily trained on the synthesis and functionalization of magnetic nanoparticles. Other graduate students was focused on the training of electrochemical impedance technique and the data modeling and the third brought the experiences and skills of for device designs such as AUTOCAD to the Dr. Erdem’s lab members. In addition to the training study at Dr Erdem’s lab, the PI and the students also broadened the research activities to other two universities including the Energy Center in Istanbul Technology University and the Genetics and Bioengineering Department in Yeditepe University. The PI delivered three seminars in the universities and made deep communication to the facility in the universities. The planned visit facilitated the international collaboration between the two groups with complementary expertise to develop research project for electrical DNA biosensors for assessing BRCA1 breast cancer biomarkers. The experiments conducted by the students during the visit provided valuable preliminary data for the planned NSF-TUBTAK proposal. The project activities advanced new technology development while promoting teaching, training and learning and establishing strong ties between the U.S. and Turkey in biosensor research.
