CATALYST Project 2008: Micro and Nanotechnology for Biomedical Engineering Applications
Faculty: Dr. Shivaun Archer
Graduate Student Assistants: TBA
Microfabricated, microfluidic analytical devices integrating multiple sample handling processes with actual measurement steps are of considerable interest to biomedical engineers. The advantages of such analytical microsystems include speed, high performance, integration, versatility, negligible sample/reagent consumption, miniaturization, and automation. The ability to construct devices at the scale of a single cell presents tremendous opportunities in terms of improved medical analysis, diagnosis and therapy both now and in the future. The CATALYST Project for 2008 on Micro and Nanotechnology for Biomedical Applications will present fundamental concepts in engineering, chemistry, biology, and physics to investigate phenomena at the micro and nanoscale interface.
The Project: Students will form small teams that will each design and fabricate different microdevices that can be used in biomedical engineering applications such as a chip to mix bioreagents, a chip to separate different size cells and a
chip to detect medically relevant biomolecules. Students will gain skills and understanding in the new field of nanobiotechnology and will become familiar with a variety of engineering tools such as photolithography, microfabrication, microscopy integrated with quantitative image analysis, computer-aided design, and biochemical analysis. Our goal is to expose CATALYST students to practices from a wide variety of engineering disciplines and demonstrate how these can be integrated to have an impact on human health.
