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Device Technologies and Biomedical Robotics

Device Technologies and Biomedical Robotics - Poster Session C

Poster I15 - Laser Induced Graphene Sensors for Electrochemical Bacterial Screening

Friday, October 25, 2024

10:00 AM - 11:00 AM EST

Location: Exhibit Hall E, F & G

Presenting Author(s)

Michael J. Lee (he/him/his)

Undergraduate Researcher
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California, United States

Co-Author(s)

Victor Ong

Ph.D. Candidate
University of Southern California, United States

Primary Investigator(s)

Maral PS Mousavi (she/her/hers)

Assitant Professor
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California, United States

Co-Author(s)

Alexander Rohleder

Undergraduate
University of Southern California, United States

Introduction: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a pathogenic bacterium associated with contaminated surfaces, person-to-person contact, and puncture wounds. According to the Centers for Disease and Control, third-world countries in South America and in the Middle East contain the highest incidence of P. aeruginosa. Currently, many common diseases such as urinary tract infections and pneumonia are a result of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. As a result, immunocompromised individuals are at high risk. Post-partum women are also a high-risk group due to hormonal changes to their immune system. Additionally, if left untreated, P. aeruginosa can often be dangerous especially if the bacterium is present in the bloodstream or in the lungs. Therefore, it is essential to detect P. aeruginosa early to best manage these bacterial infections.

In the current global commercial market, there is little to no point-of-care sensing technology for P. aeruginosa; only a laboratory test is available. To address this need, we propose a simple, low-cost, robust, and intuitive sensor for P. aeruginosa detection. This is achieved through detecting pyocyanin, an electrochemically active pigment produced by this bacteria.

Materials and

Methods: The design consists of a three-electrode laser-induced graphene (LIG) sensor fabricated on polyimide film.

Varying solutions of pyocyanin (extracted from P. aeruginosa culture and synthetic) were used to calibrate and validate the sensor. After utilizing cyclic voltammetry to understand the redox properties of pyocyanin, square wave voltammetry was used to calibrate and validate the sensor. Different matrices were used for analyzing sensor suitability in different bodily fluids.

Results, Conclusions, and Discussions: Characterization of the electrochemical system demonstrated an electrochemically active surface area of 11.11 cm^2, which is more than 10 times the geometric surface area. Raman spectroscopy results also confirm the generation of graphene on the surface of the electrode. Results from the calibration tests confirm good performance and acceptable accuracy by FDA standards.

Future research and work as a potential multiplex sensor should be performed to provide a suite of democratized bacterial testing.

Acknowledgements (Optional): I would like to thank Dr. Maral Mousavi, the MADLAB, and the Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering for supporting me and my work.