Conference

The rapid advancement of wearables and minimally invasive technologies is transforming chronic disease management. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems, enabled by innovations such as microneedles and subdermal electronic implants, have significantly improved the quality of life for individuals with diabetes. Despite these breakthroughs, existing solutions remain relatively large, invasive, suffer from limited operational lifespans due to biofouling and sensor degradation.

What if molecular sensors could be scaled down to dimensions smaller than a grain of rice, with lifetimes extended far beyond current limitations? In this talk, I will introduce a novel paradigm for the fabrication of continuous molecular sensors in which the sensors are monolithically integrated on Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) chips. This integration enables the seamless embedding of transducers, signal processing, and wireless communication directly on-chip, facilitating real-time, high-resolution monitoring in a form factor order of magnitude smaller than conventional devices. I will also present our approach in using hydrogels that mimic the dynamic properties of living cells – the best molecular sensor in nature – to minimize biofouling and reduce sensor degradation, thereby significantly enhancing the lifetime and accuracy of molecular sensors. Finally, I will address the critical challenges of powering and communication at the nanoscale and unveil out approach leveraging advanced nanomaterials and CMOS-compatible microfabrication techniques to achieve wireless power transfer and robust data communication.

This work represents a significant leap towards fully autonomous, long-lasting molecular sensors with applications that extend far beyond glucose monitoring, setting the stage for the next generation of real-time health monitoring but also environmental sensing, and seamless bio-integration.