Chem501 Spring Seminar

Speaker: Dr. Netzahualcoyotl (Netz) Arroyo

Associate Professor                                                                              Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Host: Dr. David Jenkins

Title: "Enabling Continuous Molecular Monitoring in the Body via Implantable and Wearable Electrochemical Aptamer-based Sensors"

Abstract: The ability to continuously monitor fluctuating concentrations of specific molecules in the body can drastically improve precision medicine by allowing the real-time correlation of dynamic molecular processes with health and disease. While this ability has been pursued from multiple directions, electrochemical strategies have been successful and commercializable platforms. For example, continuous glucose monitors have dramatically improved the therapeutic management and quality of life for Type 1 diabetics. Unfortunately, the enzymatic sensing used in glucose monitors is not applicable to a large number of clinically relevant biomarkers. This limitation significantly reduces the scope of dynamic biochemical processes we can probe to study healthy human physiology and disease. In response, my laboratory is developing in vivo electrochemical aptamer-based sensors, a platform that is generalizable to the highly specific sensing of arbitrary molecular targets and supports continuous molecular monitoring in the body. In this presentation I will discuss the current state-of-the-art of these sensors, and the challenges we are addressing to enable preclinical and clinical applications.

Bio: Netzahualcoyotl Arroyo-Currás, also known as Netz Arroyo, is an Associate Professor in Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Arroyo received his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from The University of Texas at Austin under electrochemist Allen J. Bard and was a postdoctoral fellow at University of California Santa Barbara under biophysicist Kevin W. Plaxco. As Assistant Professor, he leads a multidisciplinary research group of four graduate students and two postdoctoral fellows focused on the development of biosensing technologies for real-time molecular monitoring in biological systems. More specifically, research in the Arroyo lab aims to expand our understanding therapeutic transport across biological barriers, develop new diagnostic and drug delivery approaches, and expand therapeutic drug monitoring capabilities via wearable devices.