Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering Graduate Seminar Series
About the event
Olivia earned her Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering in 2017 from Washington State University. She began undergraduate research as a sophomore, focusing on developing a miniaturized pyrolysis and gasification reactor to demonstrate biomass conversion principles in undergraduate classrooms. She traveled to Accra, Ghana in 2015 with her research team to present her findings and presented at SURCA in 2016 and 2017, winning a top award in 2016. After completing her undergraduate degree, Olivia remained at WSU to complete a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering under Dr. Bernie Van Wie which she completed in December 2018. Her M.S. research, which she will discuss during her seminar, focused on the development of a novel potentiometric biosensor for proteins and cells. She presented her work during a talk at the 2018 AIChE Conference and at the 2019 GPSA Research Exposition. Olivia remains at WSU, now pursuing a PhD degree in Chemical Engineering under Dr. Van Wie with research related to cartilage tissue engineering and engineering education using low-cost desktop learning modules.
Validation, Optimization, and Miniaturization of a Dual Ionophore Ion Selective Electrode Biosensor
The development of point-of-care capable diagnostic tools is a popular area of research owing to their ease-of-use, rapidity, and flexible applications. Point-of-care sensors are particularly useful for the diagnosis of rapidly progressing medical conditions such as septic infections, as patient mortality rate is often directly correlated to the timeliness of appropriate treatment. This seminar details the development of a unique potentiometric biosensor, the Dual Ionophore Ion Selective Electrode (di-ISE), which can be used to detect a wide array of proteins and cells using a simple potentiometer and desktop computer. The di-ISE relies on changes in voltage caused by the disruption in transport of ionic species across a selectively permeable membrane upon membrane coverage by analyte molecules. The validation of the design and sensing concept will be presented, along with results from a fractional factorial design which was completed to optimize the di-ISE membrane composition for protein and cell detection. Results from initial protein capture experiments using a model biotin-streptavidin system will be shown, along with work completed to miniaturize the sensing membrane from the millimeter to micron scale in an attempt to improve the sensor sensitivity.