Ardemis Boghossian presents at the EPFL BioE Talks Seminar SERIES

The vast expansion of available synthetic biology tools has led to explosive developments in the field of materials science. No longer confined to engineering just synthetic materials, the increased accessibility of these tools has pushed the frontier of materials science into the field of engineering biological and even living materials. By coupling the tunability of nanomaterials with the prospect of re-programming living devices, one can re-purpose biology to fulfill needs that are otherwise intractable using traditional engineering approaches.
Optical technologies in particular could benefit from capitalizing on untapped potential in coupling the optical properties of nanomaterials with the specificity and scalability of biological materials. This presentation highlights specific applications in optical biomedical sensing as well as light-harvesting energy technologies that exploit the synergistic coupling of nanobio-hybrid materials. We discuss the development of bio-conjugated single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) for near-infrared fluorescence sensing and the application of these nanobioptic sensors for continuous measurements in living cells and organisms. We further explore the development living photovoltaics based on bioengineered, photosynthetic organisms with augmented capabilities.

More information on the talk here.