Events Calendar

Information-Power Tradeoffs for Biosensor Design

Nicole Nelson, University of MarylandAbstract: Biosensors for lab on a chip and portable applications typically detect weak signals while having limited power resources. These sensors must therefore be carefully designed while accounting for the noise performance. I will show a methodology, based on the classical Shannon capacity, of formulating the tradeoffs in energy and power resources, intrinsic noise and signal power. In particular I model analog circuits as communication channels corrupted by noise and will show the model thus far for operational transconductance amplifiers as well as an active pixel sensor. In addition I will show results of a bioamplifier which measures weak extra- cellular signals of electrogenic cells as well as a handheld fluorometer that can be used for a variety of biological applications.Biography: Nicole Nelson received her Bachelor's and Master's degree from Howard University in 2001 and 2003 respectively and is currently completing her PhD at the University of Maryland,College Park. In 2007 she was the recipient of an outstanding TA award and future faculty fellowship from the engineering school. Her research interests include studying information and power efficiency tradeoffs in circuit design and development and testing of biosensor devices.

Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Kim Reid