Jinglei Ping
University of Massachusetts, MA·Biomedical Engineering·Early-career
Graphene is a carbon sheet only one atom thick that conducts electricity well and interacts readily with biological systems. Both of the lab's projects build graphene-based electronic devices that interface with biology.
- Fields
Biomedical Engineering
Engineering
Materials Science
- Topics
graphene
biosensors
nucleic acid detection
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Jan 2029
What they work on
- Determine how DNA nanostructures tethered to a graphene transistor and oscillating in an alternating electric field produce electrical signals, exploiting the difference in flexibility between unpaired and paired strands.
- Achieve rapid, amplification-free, high-sensitivity nucleic-acid detection by combining nanomechanoelectrical transduction with electrophoresis running across a microfluidic channel.
- Build densely arrayed, optically transparent graphene microelectrodes that both sense cell signals and electrochemically create localized pH microenvironments.
- Control the function and behavior of cardiomyocytes and tumor cells through spatially and temporally precise pH modulation using the graphene transducer array.
More about the research
One uses graphene to detect genetic material quickly and sensitively. The other uses it to control living cells by changing the acidity (pH) of their immediate surroundings.
Why it matters
Fast, sensitive DNA and RNA tests that need no amplification could support point-of-care diagnosis and pandemic management, especially where advanced labs are unavailable. Precise control of cell pH could aid tissue engineering, drug delivery and regenerative medicine. It may also support cardiac and anti-cancer therapies that depend on how heart and tumor cells respond to their surroundings.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Weihua Guan
Indiana University, IN·Biomedical Engineering·Early-career
Develop a single-tube multiplex recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) assay that copies several respiratory pathogen targets at once with balanced amplification and minimal cross-reactivity.
Kiana Aran
University of California-San Diego, CA·Biomedical Engineering
Design CRISPR-transistor sensors that use a range of guide RNAs and Cas nucleases to electronically detect single-letter DNA changes, using the sickle cell HBB mutation as the model.
Samuel K Sia
Columbia University, NY·Biomedical Engineering
Integrate plasma filtration from whole blood and PRECISE magnetic bead nucleic-acid extraction with plasmonic PCR to create a sample-to-answer hepatitis C RNA test.
The school
University of Massachusetts: 28 labs on PI Pages, $282M a year on research, 337 research doctorates a year.
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