Author: Erkin Seker

• A collaborative paper with IBM Almaden Research Center and Departments of Food Science and Plant Pathology (UC Davis), titled “Immobilization-mediated reduction in melting temperatures of DNA-DNA and DNA-RNA hybrids: Immobilized DNA probe hybridization studied by SPR,” is published in Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects. Congrats to all!
• Our group receives a National Science Foundation award, titled “Effects of Nanostructure on the Performance of Nucleic Acid-Based Electrochemical Biosensors,” funded by Nano-Biosensing Program.
• Chris Chapman receives both the Best Oral Presentation and People’s Choice awards at the UC Davis 4^th annual Biomedical Engineering Graduate Group Research Day. Congrats, Chris!

• Our paper, titled “Nanoporous gold as a neural interface coating: effects of topography, surface chemistry, and feature size,” is featured as Front Cover in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Thanks to Ryan Chen (LLNL) for the beautiful graphic!
• Our group’s paper, titled “Effect of nanoporous gold thin film morphology on electrochemical DNA sensing,” is published online in Analytical Chemistry. Congrats to Pallavi and Zimple!

Chris Chapman has been selected to attend the 65^th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Lindau, Germany – a prestigious award sponsored by the National Science Foundation. He will join ~50 other graduate students selected from the US universities to have informal meetings with Nobel Laureates in chemistry, physics, and physiology/medicine. Congrats, Chris!

• Dr. Juan Manuel Artés Vivancos is awarded a Marie Curie Individual European Grant, titled “Quantum coherence in photosynthesis: towards single-molecule light-conversion devices”. Congrats, JuanMa!
• A collaborative paper with Department of Molecular Biosciences (UC Davis) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, titled “Nanoporous gold as a neural interface coating: effects of topography, surface chemistry, and feature size,” is published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. Congrats to Chris and the collaborators!

• Tatiana Dorofeeva passes her PhD qualifying examination in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Congrats, Tatiana!
• Our group’s paper, titled “Electrically-tunable pore morphology in nanoporous gold thin films,” is published online in Nano Research. Congrats to Tatiana!
• Professor Şeker has been selected to receive a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, titled “Multifunctional Nanostructured Electrodes for Closed-Loop Control of Neural Activity,” co-funded by Biomedical Engineering and Metals & Metallic Nanostructures Programs.

A collaborative paper, titled “Resolving cancer–stroma interfacial signalling and interventions with micropatterned tumour–stromal assays,” is published in Nature Communications.

Dr. Zimple Matharu joins the group as a postdoctoral researcher. She received her PhD focusing on biosensors from University of Delhi and the National Physical Laboratory, India. Her BS and MS degrees are in Physics from University of Lucknow, India. She will be developing material screening platforms to study nanostructure-property relationships in electrochemical sensors. Welcome, Zimple!

Chris Chapman passes his PhD qualifying examination in Biomedical Engineering. Congrats, Chris!

Professor Şeker has been selected to participate in the National Academy of Engineering’s 6th annual Frontiers of Engineering Education Symposium. He will join some of the nation’s most engaged and innovative engineering educators in order to discuss and collaborate on novel approaches to promote effective, substantive, and inspirational engineering education.

• Tatiana Dorofeeva is awarded an Electrical & Computer Engineering Graduate Program Fellowship. Congrats, Tatiana!
• Özge Kurtuluş receives a Summer Graduate Student Researcher Award. Congrats, Özge!