A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject.(March 2022) |
Ester H. Segal | |
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Alma mater | Technion - Israel Institute of Technology (B.Sc, M.Sc, PhD) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | porous silicon biosensors food packaging |
Institutions | Technion - Israel Institute of Technology (2007 - current) |
Doctoral advisor | Moshe Narkis |
Ester H. Segal is an Israeli nanotechnology researcher and professor in the Department of Biotechnology and Food Engineering at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, where she heads the Laboratory for Multifunctional Nanomaterials. She is also affiliated with the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. [1] Segal is a specialist in porous silicon nanomaterials, as well as nanocomposite materials for active packaging technologies to extend the shelf life of food.
Segal received her bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology in 1997. She earned her master of science degree and PhD from the Technion in polymer science. [2]
Segal competed her graduate research with Moshe Narkis at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, where she developed electrically conductive polymer systems and their application as sensors for volatile organic compounds. [3] [4] After completing her PhD in 2004, Segal was awarded the Rothschild Postdoctoral Fellowship and joined the group of Michael J. Sailor at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego from 2004 to 2007. There, she developed porous silicon nanomaterials for drug delivery and optical biosensing purposes. In 2007, She returned to Israel and joined the Department of Biotechnology and Food Engineering at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology to begin her own research lab. [2] She was promoted to full professor in 2020.
Her research lab focuses on coupling materials science with chemistry and biotechnology to address problems in food technology and medicine. [5] Specific areas include optical biosensing, silicon-based therapeutics, silicon-polymer hybrids, and food packaging technologies.
Fabry-Perot interferometers
Using electrochemical etched mesoporous silicon, Segal's research group has developed label-free, optical sensors by means of Fabry-Perot interferometry. These sensors, containing pores between 10 and 100 nm detect analytes such as proteins, [6] [7] DNA, [8] whole bacteria cells, [9] [10] [11] amphipathic molecules on lipid bilayers, [12] organophosphorus compounds, [13] heavy metal ions, [14] and proteolytic products from enzymatic activity. [15] [16] Some of these sensors have been integrated with isotachophoresis and/or engineered with specific surface functions (e.g. attached proteins, enzymes, aptamers, and antimicrobial peptides) to enhance the limits of detection for analytes. She has helped engineer hybrid porous silicon materials for sensing purposes, including carbon dot-infused silicon transducers, [17] hydrogel-confined silicon substrates, [18] and polymer-silicon hybrids. [19]
Diffraction gratings
Segal's research group engineered microstructured silicon optical sensors for the detection of microorganisms, including bacteria and fungi, in clinical samples and food. [20] The microstructured substrates serve as reflective diffraction gratings for label-free measurements of refractive index. [21] [22] Her group (in collaboration with the Department of Urology at the Bnai Zion hospital and Ha'Emek Medical Center) developed a means of rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing for clinical samples. [23]
Segal and her research team engineered porous silicon carriers containing nerve growth factor for delivery to the brain in Alzheimer's models, [24] in addition to carriers of anti-cancer drugs to diseased tissue [25] and bone morphogenetic protein 2. [26] She also demonstrated the delivery of anti-cancer drugs captured in silicon microparticles with a pneumatic capillary gene gun. [27] She has studied the kinetics and degradation of porous silicon therapeutics in disease models, [28] finding that porous silicon materials tend to degrade at faster rates in diseased tissue environments compared to healthy tissue. [29]
Some of Segal's research focuses on development of technologies for active packaging of food usually through the incorporation of polymers, nanomaterials, and essential oils. [30] [31] [32] [33] These materials have antimicrobial properties, allowing them to preserve food for longer times, and reduce food waste. [34]
Segal serves as the CTO to BactuSense Technologies Ltd and was the project coordinator of Nanopak, an EU-funded project that developed food packaging products in order to extend the shelf life of food. [38] [39]
Segal is a cancer survivor, [40] married, and has two children.
A sensor is a device that produces an output signal for the purpose of sensing a physical phenomenon.
A biosensor is an analytical device, used for the detection of a chemical substance, that combines a biological component with a physicochemical detector. The sensitive biological element, e.g. tissue, microorganisms, organelles, cell receptors, enzymes, antibodies, nucleic acids, etc., is a biologically derived material or biomimetic component that interacts with, binds with, or recognizes the analyte under study. The biologically sensitive elements can also be created by biological engineering. The transducer or the detector element, which transforms one signal into another one, works in a physicochemical way: optical, piezoelectric, electrochemical, electrochemiluminescence etc., resulting from the interaction of the analyte with the biological element, to easily measure and quantify. The biosensor reader device connects with the associated electronics or signal processors that are primarily responsible for the display of the results in a user-friendly way. This sometimes accounts for the most expensive part of the sensor device, however it is possible to generate a user friendly display that includes transducer and sensitive element. The readers are usually custom-designed and manufactured to suit the different working principles of biosensors.
Nanosensors are nanoscale devices that measure physical quantities and convert these to signals that can be detected and analyzed. There are several ways proposed today to make nanosensors; these include top-down lithography, bottom-up assembly, and molecular self-assembly. There are different types of nanosensors in the market and in development for various applications, most notably in defense, environmental, and healthcare industries. These sensors share the same basic workflow: a selective binding of an analyte, signal generation from the interaction of the nanosensor with the bio-element, and processing of the signal into useful metrics.
A nanopore is a pore of nanometer size. It may, for example, be created by a pore-forming protein or as a hole in synthetic materials such as silicon or graphene.
Nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) are a class of devices integrating electrical and mechanical functionality on the nanoscale. NEMS form the next logical miniaturization step from so-called microelectromechanical systems, or MEMS devices. NEMS typically integrate transistor-like nanoelectronics with mechanical actuators, pumps, or motors, and may thereby form physical, biological, and chemical sensors. The name derives from typical device dimensions in the nanometer range, leading to low mass, high mechanical resonance frequencies, potentially large quantum mechanical effects such as zero point motion, and a high surface-to-volume ratio useful for surface-based sensing mechanisms. Applications include accelerometers and sensors to detect chemical substances in the air.
Photodetectors, also called photosensors, are sensors of light or other electromagnetic radiation. There are a wide variety of photodetectors which may be classified by mechanism of detection, such as photoelectric or photochemical effects, or by various performance metrics, such as spectral response. Semiconductor-based photodetectors typically use a p–n junction that converts photons into charge. The absorbed photons make electron–hole pairs in the depletion region. Photodiodes and photo transistors are a few examples of photo detectors. Solar cells convert some of the light energy absorbed into electrical energy.
In materials science, the sol–gel process is a method for producing solid materials from small molecules. The method is used for the fabrication of metal oxides, especially the oxides of silicon (Si) and titanium (Ti). The process involves conversion of monomers into a colloidal solution (sol) that acts as the precursor for an integrated network of either discrete particles or network polymers. Typical precursors are metal alkoxides. Sol–gel process is used to produce ceramic nanoparticles.
A photonic integrated circuit (PIC) or integrated optical circuit is a microchip containing two or more photonic components which form a functioning circuit. This technology detects, generates, transports, and processes light. Photonic integrated circuits utilize photons as opposed to electrons that are utilized by electronic integrated circuits. The major difference between the two is that a photonic integrated circuit provides functions for information signals imposed on optical wavelengths typically in the visible spectrum or near infrared (850–1650 nm).
A slot-waveguide is an optical waveguide that guides strongly confined light in a subwavelength-scale low refractive index region by total internal reflection.
Bio-MEMS is an abbreviation for biomedical microelectromechanical systems. Bio-MEMS have considerable overlap, and is sometimes considered synonymous, with lab-on-a-chip (LOC) and micro total analysis systems (μTAS). Bio-MEMS is typically more focused on mechanical parts and microfabrication technologies made suitable for biological applications. On the other hand, lab-on-a-chip is concerned with miniaturization and integration of laboratory processes and experiments into single chips. In this definition, lab-on-a-chip devices do not strictly have biological applications, although most do or are amenable to be adapted for biological purposes. Similarly, micro total analysis systems may not have biological applications in mind, and are usually dedicated to chemical analysis. A broad definition for bio-MEMS can be used to refer to the science and technology of operating at the microscale for biological and biomedical applications, which may or may not include any electronic or mechanical functions. The interdisciplinary nature of bio-MEMS combines material sciences, clinical sciences, medicine, surgery, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, optical engineering, chemical engineering, and biomedical engineering. Some of its major applications include genomics, proteomics, molecular diagnostics, point-of-care diagnostics, tissue engineering, single cell analysis and implantable microdevices.
A holographic sensor is a device that comprises a hologram embedded in a smart material that detects certain molecules or metabolites. This detection is usually a chemical interaction that is transduced as a change in one of the properties of the holographic reflection, either refractive index or spacing between the holographic fringes. The specificity of the sensor can be controlled by adding molecules in the polymer film that selectively interacts with the molecules of interest.
Potential graphene applications include lightweight, thin, and flexible electric/photonics circuits, solar cells, and various medical, chemical and industrial processes enhanced or enabled by the use of new graphene materials.
Michael J. Sailor is a nanotechnology researcher and professor at the University of California, San Diego. Sailor is best known for his research on porous silicon, a nanostructured material that is prepared by electrochemical corrosion of crystalline silicon wafers.
Desorption/ionization on silicon (DIOS) is a soft laser desorption method used to generate gas-phase ions for mass spectrometry analysis. DIOS is considered the first surface-based surface-assisted laser desorption/ionization (SALDI-MS) approach. Prior approaches were accomplished using nanoparticles in a matrix of glycerol, while DIOS is a matrix-free technique in which a sample is deposited on a nanostructured surface and the sample desorbed directly from the nanostructured surface through the adsorption of laser light energy. DIOS has been used to analyze organic molecules, metabolites, biomolecules and peptides, and, ultimately, to image tissues and cells.
Brian T. Cunningham is an American engineer, researcher and academic. He is a Donald Biggar Willett Professor of Engineering at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and a professor of Bioengineering.
Laura M. Lechuga Gómez is a Spanish scientist who is a biosensor researcher and full professor. She leads the Nanobiosensors and Bioanalytical Application Group at the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2).
Sharon M. Weiss is an American professor of electrical engineering and physics at Vanderbilt University. Weiss has been awarded a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), an NSF CAREER award, an ARO Young Investigator Award, and the 2016–2017 IEEE Photonics Society Distinguished Lecturer award for her teaching and fundamental and applied research on silicon-based optical biosensing, silicon photonics for optical communication, and hybrid and nanocomposite material systems. She is the Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair in Engineering at Vanderbilt University, in addition to the Director of the Vanderbilt Institute of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (VINSE).
A chemical sensor array is a sensor architecture with multiple sensor components that create a pattern for analyte detection from the additive responses of individual sensor components. There exist several types of chemical sensor arrays including electronic, optical, acoustic wave, and potentiometric devices. These chemical sensor arrays can employ multiple sensor types that are cross-reactive or tuned to sense specific analytes.
Silicon quantum dots are metal-free biologically compatible quantum dots with photoluminescence emission maxima that are tunable through the visible to near-infrared spectral regions. These quantum dots have unique properties arising from their indirect band gap, including long-lived luminescent excited-states and large Stokes shifts. A variety of disproportionation, pyrolysis, and solution protocols have been used to prepare silicon quantum dots, however it is important to note that some solution-based protocols for preparing luminescent silicon quantum dots actually yield carbon quantum dots instead of the reported silicon. The unique properties of silicon quantum dots lend themselves to an array of potential applications: biological imaging, luminescent solar concentrators, light emitting diodes, sensors, and lithium-ion battery anodes.
Sergey Piletsky is a professor of Bioanalytical Chemistry and the Research Director for School of Chemistry, University of Leicester, United Kingdom.