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h3.Towards chemical information processing between synthetic or biological compartments
To enable chemical information processing between synthetic or biological compartments we aim to integrate synthetic nanopores into multicompartment systems to control molecular transport in time, and thus to design chemical information exchange between compartments.
Compartments can be a reaction space in a microfluidic lab-on-chip device, or a biological cell reacting to a specific molecule. To design signaling pathways between such compartments, time-dependent, precisely controlled concentration-time profiles of signaling molecules are required. These molecules then trigger a response in the neighboring compartment. The concentration-time profile design in nanopore transport requires a precise nanopore fabrication, nanopore functionalization, e.g. using polymers, and nanopore device integration. We develop functionalized nanoscale porous ceramic materials allowing temporally controlled molecular transport or release. We aim to interface such nanoporous materials with biological cells or chemical reactions and to integrate them into compartments of microfluidic devices. Exemplary key words are: sol-gel chemistry, stimuli-responsive polymer grafting from, light-triggered release, additive manufacturing, nanoscale polymer writing, cyclic voltammetry, ellipsometry, fluorescence microscopy, nanopore transport gating.
Currently involved team members: currently searching for a team member
Funding: DFG
