A Feasibility Study on an Integrated CMOS Nanoelectronic Platform for Exoelectrogen Synthetic Biology
Abstract
A Feasibility Study on an Integrated CMOS Nanoelectronic Platform for Exoelectrogen Synthetic Biology. The central challenge posed by synthetic biology is the uncertainty in how to assemble biological elements to achieve a novel and reliable biological function. Many applications in synthetic biology have overcome this limitation by designing and building libraries of genetic elements, screening for the desired function, and analyzing the data to inform the next iterative biological design, i.e., using a design-build-test-learn cycle. However, because there is no method that enables electrochemical screening of thousands of cellular variants, iterating the design-build-test-learn cycle for synthetically engineering exoelectrogens becomes very challenging in practice, resulting in limited progress in these synthetic biology applications. In this project, we propose to perform a feasibility study of utilizing nanoelectronic Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuit (IC) sensor arrays to screen and concurrently monitor multi-parameters of exoelectrogens, investigating exoelectrogen sample deposition/patterning, and target releasing of exoelectrogen variants on CMOS chip surface. Successful demonstration of this CMOS platform will be transformative for synthetic biology research and its applications on exoelectrogens by enabling screening millions of exoelectrogen variants per day in the future. This will greatly facilitate the utility of the designtest- build-learn paradigm for this functionally-rich set of microorganisms. This is a 1-year collaborative proposal for Georgia Tech (PI: Dr. Hua Wang) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (PI: Dr. Caroline M. Ajo-Franklin). In particular, the following three interconnected research tasks will be pursued by Dr. Wang’s team in this feasibility study. • Task-I: Deposition, Patterning, and Verification of Exoelectrogens Viability. Dr. Wang’s team will investigate the nano inkjet method to deposit/pattern exoelectrogens on CMOS chip. Dr. Wang’s team will also develop the micro-fabrication processes for CMOS electrode surface material modifications and optimization. • Thrust-II: Multi-Modality Characterization of Exoelectrogens Using Existing CMOS Multi- Modality Sensor Array Chip. Dr. Wang’s team plans to use the developed CMOS multi-modality sensor array IC chips to perform multi-parameter characterization of on-chip exoelectrogens, including its electrochemical current recording, optical imaging for biomass estimation, and pH monitoring for cell metabolism study. • Thrust-III: Developing Methods for Cell Sample Isolation. Dr. Wang’s team plans to utilize the existing CMOS sensor array chips to examine the target release of exoelectrogen variants by varying the electrodes DC biasing voltage. Dr. Wang’s team will also explore micro-machining technologies to build 3D micro-wells on the CMOS sensor pixels for cell sample isolation. The Georgia Tech team PI, Dr. Wang, has a successful track record of more than 10 years in biosensor/bioelectronics, sensor modeling, microfluidic packaging, and integrated circuits and systems. In addition, the PI will collaborate with Dr. Caroline Ajo-Franklin who is a leading expert in the areas of exoelectrogen synthetic biology. All the required facilities, equipment, software, and other resources have been secured at Georgia Tech and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Nov 23, 2016
- Source ID
- N000141612534
Entities
People
- Hua Wang
Organizations
- Georgia Tech Research Corporation
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy