Dr. Douglas Densmore Awarded NSF Grant
Dr. Douglas Densmore and Dr. Rabia Yazicigil were awarded a $1.5M grant by the National Science Foundation for project entitled “SemiSynBio-II: Hybrid Bio-Electronic Microfluidic Memory Arrays for Large Scale Testing and Remote Deployment.” Professor Ahmad Khalil and Professor Wilson Wong of BME are also Co-PIs on the grant.
The award is for a three-year project aiming to leverage the memory of complex genetic systems in order to create smart biosensors. Bacteria or mamalia cells, living systems, will be able to “remember” things they have seen in their environment. Using these engineered cellular memory elements, Densmore and his team will create smart biosensors. By creating artificial environments using microfluidic devices, the team will then generate custom biological memory elements for those devices. The devices will be equipped with electronic technology that can detect and respond to biological changes. When these devices are in “swarms,” they can collectively act as smart biosensors in the environment.
Read the full announcement here.