EFGET @ NIU
at Northern Illinois University, I'm developing and testing advanced electronic biosensors, focusing on how surface modifications to electrolyte-gated field-effect transistors (EGFETs) alter their transconductance and gate voltage characteristics.
EGFET biosensors
electrolyte-gated field-effect transistors are biosensor devices that transduce biological or chemical signals into electrical readouts. the transistor gate is exposed directly to a biological sample — blood, a chemical solution, environmental water — and changes at the electrolyte interface shift the transistor's operating characteristics in measurable, quantifiable ways. the sensitivity and specificity of the sensor depend critically on what's been applied to that gate surface.
surface modifications
functionalization with antibodies enables specific protein detection. polymer coatings change the double-layer capacitance and the signal-to-noise ratio. my work focuses on characterizing precisely how different surface treatments shift the gm–gate voltage curve: which modifications produce the most stable, sensitive, and reproducible sensors, and what the underlying physical mechanisms explain the differences.
experimental work
developing and refining protocols for capturing double-layer capacitance data. running modified gate voltage sweeps to characterize surface-treatment effects on transconductance. contributing to cross-disciplinary discussions on optimizing experimental protocols and to the lab's publication efforts through accurate data management.
applications
EGFET biosensors have applications in point-of-care diagnostics, real-time glucose monitoring, and environmental contaminant detection — heavy metals, pesticides, pathogens in water. the long-term vision is sensors cheap and robust enough to deploy in low-resource settings worldwide.