Speaker: Dr. Katherine R. Jinkins, postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University
Title: Materials Design for On-Body Health Monitoring and Highly Personalized Medicine
Abstract: Wearable or implantable biodevices enable continuous health monitoring and diagnosis of diseases or conditions in a fast, cost-effective, and accurate manner. These devices also allow the delivery of therapeutics, and subsequently create a new on-body realm of highly personalized medical treatment that can adapt to the dynamic nature of physiological processes. However, simultaneous control over the materials, electronics, and interface with the body, which is required for safe and conformal devices, has been difficult to achieve. In my research, I work at the intersections of materials/electronic design, bio-inspired engineering, and nanomaterials assembly to overcome this challenge.
In this talk, I will first outline a materials and device strategy for developing thermally switchable adhesives that interface wearable devices with the body. Implementing wireless control to modulate the adhesion strength of novel stimuli-responsive adhesives from a strong to a weak state eliminates the risk of damage to skin during removal, improving patient safety. Second, I will discuss a technique in which newly discovered liquid crystal phenomena are harnessed to assemble semiconducting carbon nanotubes into densely packed, highly aligned arrays, enabling nanotube field-effect transistors with unprecedented uniformity and performance across the wafer scale. These nanotube arrays enable high-performance logic and RF devices and promise to lead to next-generation flexible and wearable electronics. Finally, I will conclude by discussing new possibilities to develop future materials and electronics systems with programmable and stimuli-responsive functionalities for implants and drug delivery, as well as routes to exploit nanomaterials assembly for novel wearable and flexible devices, such as sweat microfluidics and biosensors.
Biography: Dr. Katherine R. Jinkins is a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University, where she works with Prof. John A. Rogers in the Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics. She received her Ph.D. in Materials Science in 2020 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was advised by Prof. Michael S. Arnold. She has received funding through the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Distinguished Graduate Research Fellowship, and a Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics research grant to support her research. Katherine’s research broadly focuses on developing new materials, assemblies, and architectures to overcome challenges in bioengineering systems, with particular emphasis on research translation through clinical testing and commercialization.