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.

Research Topics

Our recent research topics are focussed on:

Contact

Dr. Dirk Mayer

IBI-3

Building 02.4V / Room 2.18

+49 2461/61-4023

E-Mail

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:

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 

Last Modified: 24.03.2025