Pushing Ions Around: Ion Selective Membrane Systems for Biosensing, Desalination, and Neuroscience

In this talk, I will describe a transport phenomenon called as Ion Concentration Polarization (ICP), resulting from currents through ion-selective membranes. In addition to significant scientific
interests on this unique phenomenon, one can develop various unique BioMEMS systems built around ion selective membranes, as an effective mean to directly control the ions in fluid. Ion-selective membranes can be fabricated within a microfluidic channel, where convective mixing is controlled and suppressed. This leads to significant ion and fluid flow perturbation in the system. I will describe several applications of microfluidic ICP, including biomolecule concentration and detection, kinase activity assay, water purification and desalination, and applications to neuroscience.
Jongyoon Han is currently an associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. He received B.S.(1992) and M.S.(1994) degree in physics from Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, and Ph.D. degree in applied physics from Cornell University
in 2001. He was a research scientist in Sandia National Laboratories (Livermore, CA), until he joined the MIT faculty in 2002. He received NSF CAREER award (2003) and Analytical Chemistry Young Innovator Award (ACS, 2009). His research is mainly focused on applying micro/nanofabrication techniques to various problems, such as biosample preparation, biodetection, desalination/water purification, and even neurotechnology.