Li OISE-1036579This project "US-Turkey Planning Visit: Collaborative Research in the Development of Biosensors for DNA Mutations Assay, July 2010" supports the travel of Dr. Chenzhong, Florida International University and three graduate students to Turkey to meet with Dr. Arzum E. Gursan at Ege University in Izmir and with Dr. Nilgun Batdogan at Istanbul Technical University to gain knowledge of nanomaterial preparation and impedance modeling and to develop a viable plan for a US-Turkey collaborative project to be submitted to NSF and to TUBITAK (NSF counterpart in Turkey). They also plan to visit Koc University in Istanbul to visit its micro-nanotechnologies research center.Intellectual Merits: The merits of the planned research include an improved understanding of DNA mutant detection using a novel magnetic nanoparticle based electrochemical impedance DNA biosensor. This understanding includes detail of the design of the sensing chip, synthesis and functionalization of magnetic nanoparticles, training of electrochemical impedance technique and data modeling. Eventually this understanding will be applied to test the feasibility of developing chip based DNA biosensors. This collaboration will enable the research by sharing complementary expertise and research resources between the two groups and create a project that will address a critical challenge in the field of nanotechnology.Broader Impacts: The visiting team consists of the PI and three graduate students with a spread of expertise and varying levels of experience working on the MEMS/NEMS fabrication and biomedical device testing. The project has the potential to create broader benefits to society with the possible commercialization of the DNA biosensor technology to expand the scope of these efforts beyond fundamental research. One graduate student will be primarily trained on the synthesis and functionalization of magnetic nanoparticles. The other graduate student will focus on the training of electrochemical impedance technique and the data modeling and the third will bring the experiences to the students in Dr. Gursans lab in a program specific for device design such as AUTOCAD. The preliminary results obtained will be used for the NSF- TUBITAK proposal. The young researchers will be exposed to state-of the-art facilities in an international setting. Additionally, web-based communication will be on-going after the international experience to foster a continuing relationship between the two groups students. The project activities will advance new technology development while promoting teaching, training and learning and establishing strong ties between the U.S. and Turkey in biosensor research. This project is co-funded by the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (CBET) and the Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE).
