The future of health care is in our cells

Dr Zhou's lab is developing a Swiss army knife of small, bio-interfacing tools: nano-optoelectrodes. As hybrid electrical-optical devices and sensors, nano-optoelectrodes are capable of reading both biochemical fingerprints and electrical activities of a cell’s molecules in a continuous, real-time stream. The multifunctional nature of the optoelectrodes sets it apart from other bio-interfacing tools because it fuses a nano-antenna — a microscopic version of the large-scale antennas we interact with every day, such as radio towers — and nano-electrodes, which are devices that deliver or take out electricity, like welding tools or batteries.

“Our nano-optoelectrodes provide higher quality intracellular information and can use machine learning to recognize and understand the detailed patterns between biochemical and bioelectrical activities inside cells,” Zhou said. “We can really understand, at the cellular network level, the patient, the cancer, and drug therapies. It can be very helpful to find the best therapeutic plan for personalized treatment.”

The research results are published in this article.

Read the full article at Virginia Tech News.