“Biosensors – Having Fun with Engineering and the Sciences”
Professor M. Jamal Deen, McMaster University
Tuesday, October 8
2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Lecture Hall 1, room 2322 in the Engineering and Science Hall (building 9)
Refreshments served from 1:45 p.m.
Abstract:
Biosensors are increasingly used in environmental applications, especially for water quality monitoring. This is because the availability of safe drinking water is fundamental to our good health. However, as water resources get increasingly stressed, ensuring a safe water supply and effective water treatment becomes increasingly important. In addition, waterborne illnesses are a significant public health problem. At the same time, current monitoring of microbiological contamination of water currently is time-consuming, laboratory based, and frequently compromises the timeliness of health advisory warnings even when contamination is found. Therefore, rapid detection of unsafe water can contribute greatly to mitigating the morbidity and mortality associated with waterborne diseases due to microbiological contaminants.
Fortunately, the research community has shown increasing interest in the development of microtechnology-based sensors for the detection and identification of the bio-contaminants. These sensing systems use the same fabrication technology that has enabled the drastic lowering of cost, exponential increase in complexity of electronic chips and widespread availability of computing resources.
In this presentation, we discuss a low-cost, electrical, label-free microfabricated biosensor that we are developing for pathogen detection related to water quality and also for ubiquitous-healthcare applications. The use of nanodimensions devices to create futuristic nano-biosensors for both environmental and health applications will be introduced. And we will also describe our ongoing work to create highly integrated and parallel detection systems by integrating the sensor, the processing electronics and the pre-processing stages on the same cheap substrate. Finally, the success of such a low-cost, highly integrated sensing system demands a convergence of expertise from various engineering disciplines, the physical and life sciences as well as public health.
Biography:
Dr. M. Jamal Deen was born in Guyana, South America and is currently Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and holder of the Senior Canada Research Chair in Information Technology, McMaster University.
He completed a PhD degree in Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, US. His PhD dissertation was on the design and modeling of a new CARS spectrometer for dynamic temperature measurements and combustion optimization in rocket and jet engines, and was sponsored and used by NASA, Cleveland, US.
His current research interests are nanoelectronics, optoelectronics, nanotechnology and their emerging applications to health and environmental sciences. Dr. Deen’s research record includes more than 470 peer-reviewed articles (about 20% are invited), 1 textbook on Silicon Photonics – Fundamentals and Devices, 20 authored/edited books and conference proceedings, 16 invited book chapters, 6 awarded patents that have been used in industry, and 12 best paper/poster awards. Over his career, he has won more than fifty awards and honors. To learn more, please visit his website.