Molecular Bioelectronics
Molecular Bioelectronics Group
About
Biomolecules such as proteins or polynucleotides possess versatile capabilities in terms of molecular recognition, self-assembly, or even electrical conductivity. The molecular bioelectronics group investigates and exploits these capabilities by integrating biomolecules in electrical bio – inorganic hybrid-systems. Electronic components made of biomolecules can be implemented not only in biosensors, implants or electronics for food packaging but could potentially find broad applications as biodegradable electronics to reduce electronic scrap.
Molecular Bioelectronics : We develop and investigate bio – inorganic hybrid-systems for electronic and biosensing applications utilizing natural and artificial biomolecules as functional elements such as receptors or transducers. Our main goal is the advancement of current electrochemical biosensor concepts to facilitzate the detection of minute amounts of neurotransmitters and biomarkers in in vitro and in vivo settings or for point-of-care medical applications.
Aptamer sensors: DNA aptamer molecules can be utilized as receptor layer and substitute antibodies in modern biosensors. We develop new electrochemical aptamer sensors for reliable point of care detection of various biomarkers. Furthermore we aim to advance current receptor immobilization and signal amplification methods to enhance the sensor performance. Several novel biosensor concepts have been developed that are based on liquid gated organic electrochemical transistors, flexible microelectrode arrays, or electrochemical logic gates.
Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) use a conducting polymer (PEDOT/PSS) as channel material and facilitate high transconductances at low voltage operation which is critical for the amplification and recording of weak electrophysilogical signals in in vitro and in vivo detection settings. We utilize OECTs as transducer and aptamer receptors as recognition unit for the selective detection of biochemical signals such as neurotransmitter release. The final goal of our research is the development of compliant neural implants capable of monitoring electrophysiological and biochemical signals correlated to neural activity.
Members
Recent Publications:
Zhu, R., et al. Plasmon-enhanced fluorescence and electrochemical aptasensor for SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein detection. Talanta 281 (2025): 126760.
Zhou, L.; Zhu, R.; Figueroa-Miranda, G.; Neis, M.; Offenhäusser, A.; Mayer, D. Ratiometric electrochemical aptasensor with strand displacement for insulin detection in blood samples. Analytica chimica acta 1317, 342823 (2024).
Zhou, Lei, et al. "Flexible multielectrode arrays based electrochemical aptasensor for glycated human serum albumin detection." Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical 386 (2023): 133730.
Liang, Y.; Figueroa-Miranda, G.; Tanner, J. A.; Huang, W.-F.; Offenhäusser, A.; Mayer, D. Highly sensitive detection of malaria biomarker through matching channel and gate capacitance of integrated organic electrochemical transistors. Biosensors and bioelectronics 242, 115712 (2023).
Hu, Z.; Li, Y.; Figueroa-Miranda, G.; Musall, S.; Li, H.; Martínez-Roque, M. A.; Hu, Q.; Feng, L.; Mayer, D.; Offenhäusser, A. Aptamer based biosensor platforms for neurotransmitters analysis. Trends in analytical chemistry 162, 117021 (2023).
Hu, Z.; Zhu, R.; Figueroa-Miranda, G.; Zhou, L.; Feng, L.; Offenhäusser, A.; Mayer, D. Truncated Electrochemical Aptasensor with Enhanced Antifouling Capability for Highly Sensitive Serotonin Detection. Biosensors 13(9), 881 (2023).
Figueroa-Miranda, G., et al. Delineating charge and capacitance transduction in system-integrated graphene-based BioFETs used as aptasensors for malaria detection. Biosensors and Bioelectronics 208 (2022) 114219.
Wu, C., Barkova, D., Komarova, N., Offenhäusser, A., Andrianova, M., Hu, Z., Mayer, D. Highly selective and sensitive detection of glutamate by an electrochemical aptasensor. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 414 (2022) 1609-1622.
Minopoli, A., et al. Ultrasensitive antibody-aptamer plasmonic biosensor for malaria biomarker detection in whole blood. Nature communications, 11 (2020) 1.
Lenyk, B., et al. D. Surface Plasmon-Enhanced Switching Kinetics of Molecular Photochromic Films on Gold Nanohole Arrays. Nano Letters, 20 (2020) 5243.
Zhang, Y., et al. Electrochemical dual-aptamer biosensors based on nanostructured multielectrode arrays for the detection of neuronal biomarkers. Nanoscale, 12 (2020) 16501.
Liang, Y., et al. Amplification of aptamer sensor signals by four orders of magnitude via interdigitated organic electrochemical transistors. Biosensors and bioelectronics, 144 (2019) 111668.
Former Members:
Reetta Penttinen, Master Student until 11/2022
Yuchen Wei, Master Student until 05/2022
Marc Neis, Master Student until 05/2022
Yaqi Li, PostDoc until 10/2022
Bohdan Lenyk, Doctoral researcher until 08/2021
Yuanying Liang, Doctoral researcher until 01/2020
Lena Nörbel, Doctoral researcher until 03/2021
Changtong Wu, Doctoral researcher until 08/2020
Yuting Zhang, Doctoral researcher until 2020
Songyao Tang, Master Student until 11/2019
Yuanying Liang, Doctoral Researcher until 11/2019
Antonio Minopoli, Doctoral Researcher until 11/2019
Ting Guo, Academic Visitor until 10/2019
Carolin Psotta, Master Student until 03/2019
Martina Cimafonte, Doctoral Researcher until 01/2019
Ivan Kucherenko, Visiting Researcher
Ezgi Kivrak, Short-Term Exchange Student
Pengcheng Zhang, Doctoral Researcher
Anh Quang Tran, Doctoral Researcher
Maristella Coppola, Doctoral Researcher
Volker Schöps, Doctoral Researcher
Zhaozi Lyu, Doctoral Researcher
Andreea Belu, Doctoral Researcher
Prof. Lingyan Feng, Humboldt PostDoc fellow
Jasmin Spekowius, Master student
Mathis Ernst, Master student
Prof. Yaqing Liu, Guest PostDoc
Dr. Sivanesan Arumugam, Guest PostDoc
Dr. Karolina Caban, Humboldt PostDoc
Dr. Nils Sanetra, Doctoral Researcher
Prof. Xiang Dong, Doctoral Researcher
Dr. Sandra Gilles, Doctoral Researcher
Dr. Zhiwei Yi, Doctoral Researcher
Dr. Florian Schröper, Doctoral Researcher
Dr. Daniel Schwaab, Doctoral Researcher
Dr. Oliver Salomon, Doctoral Researcher
Pinggui Li, Doctoral Researcher
Feliks Pyatkov, Master Student
Stefanie Karpinski, Master Student
Martina Hitzbleck, Master Student
Nabeel Aslam, Master Student
Frank Amberger, Master Student