Gregory Panaitov

Interfacing electrogenic cells with 3D nanoelectrodes: position, shape, and size matter.

An in-depth understanding of the interface between cells and nanostructures is one of the key challenges for coupling electrically excitable cells and electronic devices. Recently, various 3D nanostructures have been introduced to stimulate and record electrical signals emanating from inside of the cell. Even though such approaches are highly sensitive and scalable, it remains an open question how cells couple to 3D structures, in particular how the engulfment-like processes of nanostructures work. Here, we present a profound study of the cell interface with two widely used nanostructure types, cylindrical pillars with and without a cap. While basic functionality was shown for these approaches before, a systematic investigation linking experimental data with membrane properties was not presented so far. The combination of electron microscopy investigations with a theoretical membrane deformation model allows us to predict the optimal shape and dimensions of 3D nanostructures for cell-chip coupling.

On Chip Guidance and Recording of Cardiomyocytes with 3D Mushroom-Shaped Electrodes

The quality of the recording and stimulation capabilities of multielectrode arrays (MEAs) substantially depends on the interface properties and the coupling of the cell with the underlying electrode area. The purpose of this work was the investigation of a three-dimensional nanointerface, enabling simultaneous guidance and recording of electrogenic cells (HL-1) by utilizing nanostructures with a mushroom shape on MEAs.

Electrolyte-Gated Graphene Ambipolar Frequency Multipliers for Biochemical Sensing

In this Letter, the ambipolar properties of an electrolyte-gated graphene field-effect transistor (GFET) have been explored to fabricate frequency-doubling biochemical sensor devices. By biasing the ambipolar GFETs in a common-source configuration, an input sinusoidal voltage at frequency f applied to the electrolyte gate can be rectified to a sinusoidal wave at frequency 2f at the drain electrode. The extraordinary high carrier mobility of graphene and the strong electrolyte gate coupling provide the graphene ambipolar frequency doubler an unprecedented unity gain, as well as a detection limit of ∼4 pM for 11-mer single strand DNA molecules in 1 mM PBS buffer solution. Combined with an improved drift characteristics and an enhanced low-frequency 1/f noise performance by sampling at doubled frequency, this good detection limit suggests the graphene ambipolar frequency doubler a highly promising biochemical sensing platform.

Dielectric resonator with discrete electromechanical frequency tuning

A novel approach for discrete frequency tuning of dielectric resonators based on electromechanical actuators such as the microelectromechanical system is presented. The concept is based on the intermodal coupling between the TE/sub 01/spl delta// mode of a cylindrical dielectric resonator and the radially arranged planar slotline resonators. The resonance frequency of the dielectric resonator is changed by switching a resistive load at the open end of each quarter-wave slotline resonator leading to a variation of the coupling between the slotline resonator mode and the TE/sub 01/spl delta// mode of the dielectric resonator. As a consequence, the resonance frequency of the TE/sub 01/spl delta// mode changes. Based on this novel tuning concept, discrete tuning by 5 MHz in 0.25-MHz frequency steps was demonstrated for a test resonator at 2 GHz. The unloaded quality factor is about 12000 and the measured switching time is about 1 ms.

Biosensing near the neutrality point of graphene

Using the charge neutrality point promises low-noise graphene electronic sensors. Over the past decade, the richness of electronic properties of graphene has attracted enormous interest for electrically detecting chemical and biological species using this two-dimensional material. However, the creation of practical graphene electronic sensors greatly depends on our ability to understand and maintain a low level of electronic noise, the fundamental reason limiting the sensor resolution. Conventionally, to reach the largest sensing response, graphene transistors are operated at the point of maximum transconductance, where 1/f noise is found to be unfavorably high and poses a major limitation in any attempt to further improve the device sensitivity. We show that operating a graphene transistor in an ambipolar mode near its neutrality point can markedly reduce the 1/f noise in graphene. Remarkably, our data reveal that this reduction in the electronic noise is achieved with uncompromised sensing response of the graphene chips and thus significantly improving the signal-to-noise ratio—compared to that of a conventionally operated graphene transistor for conductance measurement. As a proof-of-concept demonstration of the usage of the aforementioned new sensing scheme to a broader range of biochemical sensing applications, we selected an HIV-related DNA hybridization as the test bed and achieved detections at picomolar concentrations.

Defined Patterns of Neuronal Networks on 3D Thiol-functionalized Microstructures

It is very challenging to study the behavior of neuronal cells in a network due to the multiple connections between the cells. Our idea is then to simplify such a network with a configuration where cells can have just a fixed number of connections in order to create a well-defined and ordered network. Here, we report about guiding primary cortical neurons with three-dimensional gold microspines selectively functionalized with an amino-terminated molecule.