18th Annual Stauffer Lectureship (Day 2 of 2): Professor Charles M. Lieber

18th Annual Stauffer Lectureship (Day 2 of 2): Professor Charles M. Lieber
Date
Wed April 3rd 2013, 4:15pm - Thu April 3rd 2014, 5:15pm
Event Sponsor
Chemistry Department
Location
Braun Auditorium
About the Seminar:
 
"Nanoelectronics Meets Biology"
Nanoscale materials enable unique opportunities at the interface between the physical and life sciences, and the interface between nanoelectronic devices and biological systems makes possible communication between these two diverse systems at the length scale relevant to biological function. In this presentation, the development of nanowire nanoelectronic devices and their application as powerful tools for the life sciences will be discussed. First, a brief introduction to nanowire nanoelectronic devices as well as comparisons to other electrophysiological tools will be presented to illuminate the unique strengths and opportunities enabled at the nanoscale. Second, illustration of detection capabilities including signal-to-noise and applications for real-time label-free detection of biochemical markers down to the level of single molecules will be described. Third, the use of nanowire nanoelectronics for building interfaces to cells and tissues will be reviewed. Multiplexed measurements made from nanowire devices fabricated on flexible and transparent substrates recording signal propagation across cultured cells, acute tissue slices and intact organs will be illustrated, including quantitative analysis of the high simultaneous spatial and temporal resolution achieved with these nanodevices. Specific examples of subcellular and near point detection of extracellular potential will be used to illustrate the unique capabilities, such as recording localized potential changes due to neuronal activities simultaneously across many length scales, which provide key information for functional neural circuit studies. Last, emerging opportunities for the creation of powerful new probes based on controlled synthesis and/or bottom-up assembly of nanomaterials will be described with an emphasis on the creation of kinked nanowire probes capable of first intracellular transistor recordings. The prospects for blurring the distinction between nanoelectronic and living systems in the future will be highlighted.

 

About the Speaker:

Charles M. Lieber was born in Philadelphia, PA in 1959. He attended Franklin and Marshall College for his undergraduate education and graduated with honors in Chemistry. After doctoral studies at Stanford University and postdoctoral research at the California Institute of Technology, he moved in 1987 to the East Coast to assume an Assistant Professor position at Columbia University. Here Lieber embarked upon a new research program addressing the synthesis and properties of low-dimensional materials. His early work at Columbia was recognized by a number of awards, including Presidential Young Investigator Award, David and Lucile Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering, and a Sloan Fellowship. Lieber moved to Harvard University in 1991 as a Professor of Chemistry and now holds a joint appointment in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, where he holds the Mark Hyman Chair of Chemistry, and the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences. At Harvard Lieber has pioneered the synthesis of a broad range of nanoscale materials, the characterization of the unique physical properties of these materials, and the development of powerful methods of hierarchical assembly of nanoscale wires, together with the demonstration of visionary applications of these materials in nanoelectronics, biological sensing and nanophotonics. Lieber has also pioneered the creation and application of new chemically sensitive microscopies for probing organic and biological materials at nanometer to molecular scales. This work has been recognized by a number of awards, including the Feynman Award in Nanotechnology, ACS Pure Chemistry Award, NSF Creativity Award, and Leo Hendrik Baekeland Award. Lieber is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and serves on the Editorial and Advisory Boards of a number of science and technology journals. Lieber has published more than 200 papers in peer-reviewed journals and is the principle inventor on more than 15 patents. In his spare time, Lieber recently founded a nanotechnology company, NanoSys, Inc., with the modest goal of revolutionizing commercial applications in chemical and biological sensing, computing, photonics, and information storage.