Samir Iqbal, PhD, PE, FRSC (University of Texas Rio Grande Valley)
The modern nanofabrication techniques have resulted into many interesting architectures to interface living systems. A new phenomenon has emerged in recent years that uses nanostructured or nanotextured sensor surfaces made with many diverse materials to interface cells. These surfaces show good antibacterial properties, better adhesion to cells and in some cases, very unique behavior between normal and diseased cells.
It is important now for the engineering researcher that are working with life sciences to understand the challenges associated with making such surfaces and how to make them compatible with mammalian cells and for tissue integration. There are many important questions that need to be studied in life sciences especially from engineering point of view like which nanofabrication methods would be most suitable for which materials and why.
The workshop will start with a review of multiscale structures in nature (e.g. nanotexture in plants, nanostructures in insect world, nanotexture in human body). We will cover the functions of micro- and nanoscale structures that are observed in the nature, like selfcleaning, hydrophobicity, optical interference. We will then get into synthetic nanotextured substrates that have been used to interface living entities (nucleic acids, proteins, cells).
The use of such texture in disease diagnostics will follow. We will see a number of fabrication methods, the minimum feature sizes that have been (could be) achieved, and some advantages and limitations of each. Examples of nanopillars, nanowires, 2D materials, coatings of nanomaterials as surface additives will be used. We will conclude with applications of nanotexture in microfluidics and how these impart selectivity and sensitivity in biosensing applications