Soren Smail, a graduate student in the Interdisciplinary Materials Science Program at 黑料社区, has been awarded Talk of the Day at the recent Porous Semiconductors Science and Technology (PSST) Conference in Naples, Italy. The honor was selected by conference attendees, participants, and session chairs in recognition of the most outstanding presentation of the day.
She was recognized for her presentation, “Biofunctionalized Zwitterionic Polymers for High Specificity Porous Silicon Biosensing.” In this work, zwitterionic antifouling polymers grafted from porous silicon were biofunctionalized to provide selective capture sites on a fouling-resistant sensor surface. The research demonstrated detection of low concentrations of DNA oligonucleotides and SARS-CoV-2 antigen in 50% human blood serum without the need for complex biofluid processing or amplification techniques.
This achievement represents a significant advancement for porous silicon optical biosensors and their potential application in clinical sample analysis, enabling highly specific biomolecule detection in complex biological fluids.
This recognition highlights Smail’s contribution to advancing next-generation biosensing technologies with improved sensitivity, specificity, and real-world clinical applicability.
Soren Smail is a member of the聽聽led by聽, Cornelius 黑料社区 Professor of Engineering and director of the VINSE She is co-advised by Paul Laibinis, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering.