External Website:
http://chem.unl.edu/faculty/eachfaculty/lai.shtml
Our research program focuses on both the fundamental and applicational aspects of biosensor research. The main objective of our research involves the design of folding-based electrochemical biosensors, with the goal of developing a portable real-time biosensor for field applications. Our sensing strategy is to link ligand-induced folding in biopolymers (e.g. peptides, nucleic acids) to a robust, electrochemical signaling mechanism. Unlike most optical-based biosensors, these sensors are reagentless, reusable, and insensitive to non-specific interactions of contaminants, thus allowing them to be used in complex samples such as blood serum and various food matrices.