Nanoscale Probing of Electrical Signals in Biological Systems.

摘要

An improved molecular-level description of trans-membrane ion currents has the potential to impact many areas of military and civilian importance such as disease diagnosis, drug development/screening, and technologies that interface between living cells and microelectronic circuitry. Ultimately, these developments would imply improvements in health and quality of life for individuals that have suffered from injuries or wounds that have compromised senses such as sight and hearing. Furthermore, technologies involving the human-machine interface and disease diagnosis/treatment are likely to be positively impacted. This AROYIP/PECASE, entitled 'Nanoscale Probing of Electrical Signals in Biological Systems,' is developing conductive atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques, such as scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) and scanning ion conductance microscopy (SICM), with the potential to improve the spatial resolution of trans-membrane ion channel measurements by at least an order of magnitude over the current state-of-the art. In addition, nanostructured biocompatible neural stimulation electrodes are being fabricated and characterized. Beyond trans-membrane ion channels, advanced SECM and SICM methods have also been applied to other materials systems including electrochemically active electrodes, nanocomposites, graphene, and photovoltaics.