Bioelectronics Materials and Devices – Eric Daniel Glowacki

• Ultrathin (opto)electronic devices
• Neuromodulation fundamentals – biophysics and electrophysiology
• Electrochemistry and photoelectrochemistry in physiological media
• Reactive oxygen chemistry in bioelectronics applications
• Implantable biomedical devices and power sources
• Organic semiconductors, biocompatible electronic materials

• Photostimulation of the nervous system: We aim to fabricate devices for interfacing with excitable cells and tissues to allow wireless stimulation of cells using light safely, efficiently, and in a highly localized and noninvasive manner. Wireless actuation of the nervous system holds great potential for new research tools as well as translatability to medical applications. We believe light in the deep red and near infrared regions is one of the most promising ways to accomplish these goals.
• Fundamental materials development to make neural interface devices with higher performance, more durability, greater stability and biocompatibility, and minimal surgical invasiveness. To reach our objectives here we keep and open and creative mind and use many tricks in materials science and micro- and nanofabrication to find the ideal set of materials for a given application. Examples include ultralow impedance microelectrodes for stimulation and neural recording, or microfolded ultrathin plastic foils for stretchable nerve cuffs.
• Developing electrochemical and photoelectrochemical devices for manipulating the balance of oxygen in physiological systems. Oxygen is critical for life, and localized electrochemistry can be used to tune its concentration, as well as make highly reactive forms of oxygen like hydrogen peroxide or superoxide. We develop devices and methods for exploiting faradaic effects in biomedical and electrophysiology applications.
• Fundamentals of novel iontronic devices. Bioelectronic interfaces necessitate transduction of electronic signals into ionic ones, and vice versa. Developing better tools and device concepts for novel iontronic operations is a core goal for our group. Examples include electrolyte-gated transistors, photocapacitors, microelectrophoresis devices, and electrochemical drug delivery platforms.

The foundation of our group is materials science, but our experimental work often overlaps into biological fields, especially electrophysiology and neuroscience. This is reflected in the composition of our team, with members having diverse backgrounds covering physics and electrical engineering to biology and medical physiology. All of our research efforts ultimately aim at applications in biomedical technologies and developing bioelectronic research tools for electrophysiology and broader biological sciences.