Speaker
Description
Biological field effect transistors (Bio-FETs) have shown great promise in revolutionizing diagnostic testing, enabling the development of inexpensive and portable biosensors with a very low limit of detection that are capable of providing point-of-care diagnostics within minutes. A recent biosensor design using DNA origami nanostructures has shown unique potential, as the nanostructure’s strong negative charge and low relative permittivity is able to greatly affect the electric field within the device to control sensor signaling. This talk will develop a mathematical model and simulation of this electrochemical process, in pursuit of determining optimal nanostructure designs. The model is posed as a modification to the Poisson-Boltzmann equation and a finite difference method approximates its solution. Parameter studies quantifying the effect of numerical and physical variations in the system are used to inform choices on computational parameters. Three different nanostructure designs are studied and their capacity for signaling compared, with optimal bulk salt concentrations suggested.
