Achievement

IGERT-LifeChips associate Jolie McLane is combining biology with technology and material science to achieve interdisciplinary research. She is using engineered microdevices to control and manipulate cell growth to observe cellular response and behavior. The microdevices improve biological experiments by increasing control and isolation levels in experiments. This is important because it assists in the development of more advanced studies. Jolie is engineering a material platform in which biological assays can be performed in the future. She is using a silica coated polymer for sample preparation and DNA extraction from various samples. This technique uses the phenomenon of chemically induced surface charge to alter the behavior of DNA and silica to allow binding and therefore extraction from samples such as blood and saliva. The ultimate goal of this new method is to improve sensitivity and selectivity of point of care applications in a fast, inexpensive, and efficient manner.