Project laboratory Electrochemistry and Biosensors

After participation in this course, the student is able to independently conduct defined research projects related to electrochemistry and biosensors. This includes: • performing a literature research with regards to defined subfields in the above given field • designing experiments that allow testing hypotheses with respect to said field • conducting experiments to gather microscopic or electrochemical data • analyzing structural microscopic data, electrochemical characteristics or sensor readings • presenting results orally during biweekly group meetings and in writing in the form of a report

Projects are given out based on availability throughout the semester. Please contact Bernhard Wolfrum, Marta Nikic, Sebastian Freko, Beatrice de Chiara or Senyao Wang for further info. The participants will work on up-to-date research projects of the neuroelectronics group. The course will start with a screening of the current literature. Afterwards, the students will work on a defined scientific project within the context of electrochemistry and biosensors. Specifically, the students will work on topics such as - effects of particle size, aggregation, and adsorption in single-impact electrochemistry - electrode materials, surface modification, and electrolyte effect in single-impact electrochemistry - conductive polymer electrodes for neurotransmitter detection - modification of printed electrodes with active materials - comparison of electrodes for the detection of bacteria - printing, design, and characterization of 3D microelectrodes - detection of silver nanoparticles with 3D microelectrodes - etc.

BioMEMS & Microfluidics

The module will comprise a project lab course. After an introduction to the field, the student will independently carry out state-of-the-art experiments related to electrochemistry and biosensing. The results will be analyzed and discussed with an experienced tutor. This will help the student to design follow-up experiments to reach their scientific goal. Thereby the students will achieve a deeper understanding of the interdisciplinary field of neuroelectronics in a research environment and learn to design, conduct, analyze and present scientific experiments. The students will present their results in a written report as well as an oral presentation. The integration of students within the research group is fostered by appointing an experienced group member as an additional mentor. This will allow the students to participate at cutting-edge research projects at an early stage of their career.

Bard, A. J. & Faulkner, L. R. Electrochemical Methods: Fundamentals and Applications. (Wiley, 2001). S. Cosnier, editor , Electrochemical Biosensors (Pan Stanford Publishing, Singapore, 2015). Additional project-specific literature will be given at the project start.