Micro/Nanoelectronics for Life Systems

Abstract

As the silicon workhorse CMOS moves into sub-100nm regime, it opens many new doors to enhance the quality of life, especially in medical application areas. It is predicted that in the next few decades with advancement of bioinformatics genes will be linked to particular diseases and more individualized medicine will be provided based on genetic variation. Medical doctors are expected to make millions of measurements for each patient using the help of technological advancements and large-scale computation for accurate diagnosis of diseases and treatment with minimal side effect. One of the most recent NSF Engineering Research Centers, Biomimetic Microelectronic Systems (BMES) ERC calls for interdisciplinary research and education among three universities, University of Southern California (lead campus), California Institute of Technology, and University of California at Santa Cruz, to develop implantable silicon chips for retinal prosthesis, neuromuscular prosthesis, and cortical prosthesis to restore vision, movement, and cognition. Chips need to be reliable, of ultra low power, and implantable. NASA’s mission for space exploration calls for innovative miniaturized devices for dependable computing, intelligent sensing, visual communications, and fuel economy. In essence we will develop a monolithic or a single package fusion of information technology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology for various applications for wholistic life systems. Thus one of the significant challenges lies in interdisciplinary education of micro/nanoelectronics with deep molecular understanding of systems biology, interface between electrodes and living cells. In the Baskin School of Engineering, we have put our foci on IT, BT, and NT and identified the crucial intersection of these three areas to be in Biomolecular Engineering which includes bioinformatics, nanobiosensors, protein engineering, among others. Several faculty members in Electrical Engineering are working on bioelectronics for nanobiosensors, electrodeliving cell interaction, and nanobiophotonics for single molecule level sensor in genome sequencing. In this talk we will highlight some of the exciting research projects and the curriculum of biomolecular engineering and related programs.