“Applications of Quantum Electrochemical Spectroscopy to Disease Diagnosis and Drug Development”
Friday, Feb. 2 at 11:00am
Malachowsky Hall Nvidia Auditorium
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Abstract

Spectroscopic techniques generate rich datasets with minimal sample preparation, in contrast to conventional label-based biomolecular assays. However, spectroscopic data have been challenging to analyze, which has limited their application. The tremendous expansion of machine learning has made spectroscopy assays, such as mass spectroscopy, NMR, and Raman spectroscopy, more efficient. However, these techniques generally require expensive instrumentation. Research at Stanford [1] led to the demonstration of a broad-spectrum, quantum electrochemical spectroscopy (QES) technique. A commercial QES instrument has been developed by the spin-off company, Probius, Inc., since 2016. After describing the underlying chemical physics of the nanoscale transducer and how is can be prototyped and mass-produced, I will discuss two early applications of QES, including accelerating the development of drug candidates [2] and predicting the course of tuberculosis infections [3].

Biography

Roger T. Howe is the William E. Ayer Professor Emeritus in the Dept. of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. He received a B.S. in physics from Harvey Mudd College in 1979 and an M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1981 and 1984. After faculty positions at CMU and MIT from 1984 – 1987, he returned to Berkeley for 18 years, where he was a Professor and a Director of BSAC. His research group at Stanford focused on nanoscale system design and fabrication for wide range of applications. He was the Faculty Director of the Stanford Nanofabrication Facility from 2009 – 2017 and was Director of the NSF’s National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN) from 2011 – 2015. In 2016, he co-founded Probius, Inc. to commercialize research in his group on broad-spectrum biomolecular sensing.