(513a) Neuronal Biosensors

Biomimetics has stimulated innovation in developing medical devices, no less in the field of biosensing. The most exquisite sensors have already been created with, for example, crustacean antennae useful in detecting femtomolar (10^-15 M) concentrations or less through neuronal chemoreceptors. Over the past 30 years our team has sought to understand and mimic neuron-like sensing. We began studying living neuron action potentials as a function of species concentrations. We turned to synthetic analogues isolating ion channels in bilayers and modifying structures to make responses sensitive to specific proteins. To further reduce these systems to practice we pivoted to inexpensive ionophore preparations in micro- and nanoscale ion selective electrodes. Finally, to make these systems practical for detecting cells and proteins we are developing a dual ionophore biosensing concept which ultimately mimics the neuronal system where we began. This plenary session will take the attendee from the fundamental physiology, through Nicolsky-Eisenman and Goldman-Hodgkin-Katz modeling, to synthetic practicality in the neuronal biosensor area, and finally to simple learning tools for teaching neuronal biomimicry.