Think back to the last time you had to work in a group. Maybe it was in high school, maybe college, more than likely, it was last week in your staff meeting. Do you remember how difficult it was (and is!) to get anything done when someone in the group either didn’t seem to be speaking the same language, had a different set of priorities or just couldn’t communicate what they were thinking?
This is a problem that persists beyond human interaction and into technological spheres. Everyday, bioengineers and computer scientists deal with communication issues when attempting to interface two opposing programs or materials. They must ask how two materials interface and communicate in such a way that a desired step is taken.
For the bioengineer, the more specific question is: how can we make electronics and biological materials combine and work together? A JoVE article, “Bridging the Bio-Electronic Interface with Biofabrication”, published on June 6th, 2012 shows one such way, via a biological microelectrochemical system (bioMEMS).
In research funded by the U.S. Government’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), University of Maryland faculty Dr. Gregory Payne and Dr. William Bentley describe their method for bridging the gap between electronics and biological components in JoVE. Their biofabrication technique uses electrodeposition to attach bio-compatible polymer films to electrodes. The polymer films act as an intermediate between the electrodes and biological materials, which is step one in creating a productive interface between man and machine. The films are then functionalized with biological components by covalently bonding proteins or whole cells to the primary amine groups of the polymer films.
Part of the outstanding nature of this protocol is that this deposition and functionalization can occur at near-physiological conditions, meaning this technology is one step closer to translated, ‘lab-on-a-chip’ applications.
Be sure to watch their article, “Bridging the Bio-Electronic Interface with Biofabrication”, and other JoVE published, DTRA funded research, such as Pfeiffer and Schafmeister’s (2012) article “Solid Phase Synthesis of a Functionalized Bis-Peptide Using ‘Safety Catch’ Methodology” and Pawlowski and Karalus’ (2012) “Electricity-Free, Sequential Nucleic Acid and Protein Isolation”.
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