Biomolecular Electronics

Engineering Charge-Transport in Bioelectronic Devices

Bioelectronics is an emerging field that has captivated widespread interest over the past decade. From unraveling how charge is transferred inside cells during processes like respiration to designing nanoscale electronic platforms for in vivo measurements, this young research field holds formidable potential.

Nanoscale electronics require interfacing complex biomolecular moieties (e.g., proteins) with electronic platforms for signal transduction. This necessitates a bottom-up understanding of how the electrical signatures of a biomolecular circuit relate to the properties of the sensing moiety (e.g., structure, dynamics).

The rather complex nature of this phenomena called for interdisciplinary approach combining large-scale protein dynamics mimicking STM-induced manipulations (via dedicated MD simulations), a detailed understanding of electronic properties (collaboration with Dr. Linda Zotti), advanced single-molecule experiments (group of Ismael Díez-Pérez), and biomolecular engineering (Prof. Pau Gorostiza).

Some of major breakthroughs include:

Regulated Charge Transport: Demonstrating that charge transport in single-protein junctions can be finely regulated via single-point mutations, altering just 1% of the atoms.

Vibration Mode Blocking: Showing that single-point mutations can block vibration modes crucial for charge transport, effectively switching the two-step tunneling process on and off.

High Conductance Mechanism: Revealing that conductance in nanometer-sized proteins can match that in much shorter molecular contacts by identifying new mechanisms involving surrounding waters and protein deformation.

Below, you can find the most relevant works from our group.