The aim of the course is to give participants the confidence and skills to obtain a detailed understanding of advanced in vivo and in vitro diagnostic sensor technologies associated with optical and electrical biological sensors, including DNA and protein chips.

2 lectures per week

ENG4036 Biosensors and Diagnostics 4

None

70% Written Examination

20% Written Assignment

10% Report

This aims of this course are to:

■ introduce students to the opportunities for advanced measurement techniques in in vivo and in vitro biosensing and Lab-on-Chip techniques;

■ describe the measurement principles including those of instrumentation design and signal generation for optical and electrical sensor technologies;

■ introduce students to the design of biosensors, including techniques to control mass transfer and biocompatibility at the sensory interface;

■ introduce students to computational methods for the design of microfluidic biosensors;

■ introduce students to techniques of micro and nanotechnologies for sensor miniaturization;

■ describe opportunities for both in vitro and in vivo biosensing;

■ describe the market opportunities for both biosensing and Lab-on-Chip technologies.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ evaluate the biomedical opportunities for the use of advanced biosensors and Lab-on-a-Chip technologies in a variety of different clinical scenarios associated with both in vivo and in vitro measurements;

■ apply measurement principles, including those of instrumentation design and signal generation, underlying the design of near and far field optical biosensor systems, including those based upon fluorescence, plasmonics and other evanescent techniques, in order to evaluate the methodologies for developing biomedical sensors;

■ apply measurement principles, including those of instrumentation design and signal generation, underlying the design of electric biosensors, including those based upon amperometric, potentiometric and impedance measurements, in order to evaluate the methodologies for developing biomedical sensors;

■ apply the advanced principles underlying biosensor design, including biomolecule immobilization as well as the use of matrices and membranes to alter mass transfer characteristics and biocompatibility, in order to evaluate techniques associated with the design of biosensing interfaces;

■ appreciate the principles of fabrication methods, using the tools of micro and nanotechnology, in order to evaluate practical solutions to problems associated with the miniaturization of biomedical sensors;

■ evaluate the challenges of developing implantable in vivo sensors including aspects of biocompatibility, as well as wireless signal transduction and low power sensing;

■ evaluate the challenges for developing low cost in vitro diagnostic sensors for use as both low power, point of care consumer diagnostics;

■ evaluate practical solutions to the development of advanced methods for producing high throughput optical sensors for genomics and proteomics as laboratory tools for use in biomedical studies such as biomarker discovery;

■ evaluate practical solutions to the development of advanced methods for producing hand held electric sensors for DNA and glucose sensing;

■ evaluate practical solutions to the development of advanced methods for producing optical immunosensors as consumer diagnostics;

■ evaluate practical solutions to the design of microfluidic systems using computational tools.

■ evaluate the role of Lab-on-a-Chip devices in providing practical solutions in integrated sensing, in the field of biomedical engineering

■ make valid comparisons between different biosensing and Lab-on-a-Chip devices, based upon their ease of manufacture, cost, sensitivity and reproducibility in order to assess the market forces driving the development of these new sensors (through a series of talks given by industrialists)

Students must attend the degree examination and submit at least 75% by weight of the other components of the course's summative assessment.

Students must attend the timetabled laboratory classes.

Students should attend at least 75% of the timetabled classes of the course.

Note that these are minimum requirements: good students will achieve far higher participation/submission rates. Any student who misses an assessment or a significant number of classes because of illness or other good cause should report this by completing a MyCampus absence report.