Patrick Wagner's Biography

Patrick Wagner, Professor, Soft-Matter Physics and Biophysics Section, Departement Natuurkunde en Sterrenkunde, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Patrick Wagner received a Ph.D. in physics in 1994 at TU Darmstadt (Germany) and was postdoctoral researcher at KU Leuven (Belgium) until 2001 when he was appointed as a professor for biophysics at Hasselt University. In 2014, he returned to KU Leuven as a full professor for bio-functional surfaces and sensors. P. Wagner has received several grants and distinctions, including a Marie-Curie Fellowship of the European Union and a Methusalem Fellowship of the Flemish Government. He was president of the Belgian Physical Society in 2006-2007, serves as guest editor of the annual issue ‘Engineering of Functional Interfaces’ in Physica Status Solidi A since 2008, and became editor-in-chief of the newly founded Elsevier journal Physics-in-Medicine in 2016. Regarding novel biosensing technologies, P. Wagner is one of the inventors of the label-free heat-transfer method HTM with a wide variety of bioanalytical applications such as DNA-mutation analysis and cell identification.

Label-Free Biosensing With Impedimetric and Thermal Detection Methods

Tuesday, 18 June 2019 at 15:15

Add to Calendar ▼2019-06-18 15:15:002019-06-18 16:15:00Europe/LondonLabel-Free Biosensing With Impedimetric and Thermal Detection MethodsPoint-of-Care, Biosensors and Mobile Diagnostics Europe 2019 in Rotterdam, The NetherlandsRotterdam, The NetherlandsSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com

The first part of this presentation addresses the detection of single-nucleotide polymorphisms in DNA by monitoring the denaturation of double-stranded DNA fragments on solid chips such as synthetic diamond coatings. Denaturation experiments were performed in two different ways: i) Chemically, with NaOH solutions in combination with impedance spectroscopy as readout principle and ii) thermally, using the heat-transfer method HTM. The latter technique measures the thermal interface resistance Rth between the chip and the liquid; the Rth parameter responds sensitively to all molecular changes at the solid-liquid interface.

Using these two methods, I will address a couple of “real life” biosensing applications such as the detection of the allergen Ara h1 (a protein) in peanut butter, the neurotransmitter serotonin in blood, and histamine in fish brine and intestinal fluids. Histamine is a mediator in the irritable bowel syndrome IBS and we are currently working towards a catheter-based diagnostic tool. Within these applications, polymer-based receptors (molecularly imprinted polymers, MIPs) are playing an advantageous role owing to their long-term stability, chemical resilience under adverse conditions, and their regeneration capacity.

In the final part of the presentation, I will discuss the selective detection and identification of cells (e.g. macrophages, cancer cells) and bacteria using whole-cell receptors. These receptors, surface-imprinted polymers (SIPs), are fabricated by soft lithography with stamping of template cells onto polyurethane layers. Special attention goes to the rebinding mechanism between the imprints and target cells and to ways how to boost selectivity by repetitive exposure. Combining these SIP receptors with HTM readout, relevantly low detection limits are becoming feasible. Especially for agriculture, the food industry and in the context of environmental safety, there is a considerable need for fast, on-site techniques to detect pathogenic microorganisms.

Add to Calendar ▼2019-06-18 00:00:002019-06-19 00:00:00Europe/LondonPoint-of-Care, Biosensors and Mobile Diagnostics Europe 2019Point-of-Care, Biosensors and Mobile Diagnostics Europe 2019 in Rotterdam, The NetherlandsRotterdam, The NetherlandsSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com

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