Róisín Owens, Maître Assistante (Associate Professor), Department of Bioelectronics, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines, CMP-EMS, Centre Microélectronique de Provence, 880, route de Mimet, 13541 Gardanne, FRANCE.

 Organic bioelectronics refers in part to the coupling of conducting polymer based devices with biological systems, proven repeatedly in the last decade to provide numerous advantages to a wide variety of biomedical applications in terms of sensitivity, specificity and most importantly, bridging of the biotic/abiotic interface. We focus on the unique properties of organic electronic materials that allow easy processing, and flexibility in design as well as chemical tunability, to develop state-of-the-art tools to (1) develop relevant in vitro models by creating more ‘in vivo’ like environments and (2) monitor cells i.e. for diagnostic purposes following exposure to toxins or pathogens. We have successfully demonstrated the use of the organic electrochemical transistor (OECT) for monitoring in vitro models of the gastrointestinal tract, the kidney and the blood brain barrier. For each application, we attempt to recreate the in vivo conditions through the use of microfluidics, biofunctionalised materials, and combinations of different cell types, while simultaneously designing the materials/devices in the most appropriate form factor to suit the model at hand. Our goal is to develop physiologically relevant in vitro models with integrated monitoring systems that obviate the need for animal experimentation in diagnostics, toxicology or drug development. In this presentation, I will focus on new work that we have carried out to increase the sensitivity of our devices for monitoring a broader selection of tissues in vitro, integration of our devices with cells in 3D formats, and finally, inclusion of multi-parameter monitoring by additional functionalities such as metabolite sensing and high resolution optical imaging.

 Site web du groupe de la Pre Owens

Cette conférence est présentée par le RQMP Versant Nord du Département de physique de l'Université de Montréal et le Département de génie physique de Polytechnique Montréal.

Biographie:

Róisín Owens is an Associate Professor in the Department of Bioelectronics at the Centre Microélectronique de Provence. She received her BA in Biochemistry at Trinity College Dublin, and her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Southampton University. In her early postdoc work she specialized on biochemical aspects of infectious diseases, including enteric pathogens and tuberculosis, but then moved into novel therapeutics (for rhinovirus) using protein engineering and development of new technologies for pathogen detection. A continued interest in novel engineering technologies for biological applications led her to the field of organic bioelectronics. Her current research centers on application of organic electronic materials for in vitro toxicology, with a specific interest in understanding the biotic/abiotic interface. She has received several awards including the European Research Council starting and proof of concept grants, a Marie Curie fellowship, and an EMBO fellowship. In 2014, she became principle editor for biomaterials for MRS communications (Cambridge University Press), and she serves on the advisory board of Materials research express (IOP publishing) and Journal of Applied Polymer Science (Wiley)