News&Events

--- 2025 ---

• We are pleased to announce that our study conducted by Trang Anh Nguyen, Isli Çela, et al., has been accepted for publication in Small Science. In this work, an extended gate field-effect transistor (EG-FET) biosensor was implemented to monitor the concentration and pharmacokinetics of an immunotherapeutic drug component in vivo. The sensors exhibited exceptional sensitivity, meeting the requirements for immunotherapeutic drug monitoring, eliminating the need for complex radioactive labeling. Congratulations to the team!

• We extend our heartfelt congratulations to our postdoctoral researcher, Dr. Ahmed Alsadig, on being awarded the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellowship. Dr. Alsadig will focus his research on developing a color-coded, rapid aptamer-based bioassay for the detection of specific circulating angiogenesis-related biomarkers, aimed at advancing breast cancer staging.

  

• Our joint PhD student Amna Batool has published an article in the journal ACS Applied Nano Materials, titled "Bismuth Oxide Nanorings: A Potential Material for Hyperthermia-Based Tumor Therapy", reporting the first synthesis of Bi₂O₃ nanorings via a simple, cost-effective sonochemical method, emphasizing their hollow structure and superior light absorption properties for potential anticancer therapies. Congratulations!!

  

• We welcome Gizem Bozkurt, a research assistant and master's student from Pamukkale University in Turkey. Her research focuses on 2D nanomaterials like MoS2, graphene, nanofibers, and conductive polymers. During her research stay at our department, she will work on measuring biosensors using GFETs.

• We are pleased to announce that our postdoctoral researcher, Dr. Željko Janićijević, has been appointed to a permanent position within our institute. As of January 2025, Dr. Janićijević has assumed the role of Team Leader for the Smart Materials and Bioelectronics research direction in the Department of Nano-Microsystems for Life Sciences. Congratulations! 

• The review article "Heterogeneity of Tumor Biophysical Properties and Their Potential Role as Prognostic Markers" in Cancer Heterogeneity and Plasticity by Anja Madleine Markl, Daniel Nieder, Diana Isabel Sandoval-Bojorquez, Anna Taubenberger, Jean-François Berret, Artur Yakimovich, Eduardo Sergio Oliveros-Mata, Larysa Baraban and Anna Dubrovska in collaboration with BioTec (TU Dresden) and Université Paris was recently accepted for publication. Congratulations to Anja Markl for leading this insightful work!

--- 2024 --- 

• We welcome Berna Ates as a new PhD student in our department. She has a Master’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering from Acibadem University. Her research will focus on the development of droplet microfluidics for clinical diagnostics.

• We congratulate our PhD student, Taufhik Hossain Tonmoy, for receiving the Springer Poster Award for his research on "Linear Assembly of Gold Nanoparticles with Improved Refractive Index Sensitivity for Biosensing Applications" at the 52nd Biennial Assembly of the German Colloid Society in Dresden.

• Dr. Željko Janićijević, a postdoctoral researcher in our department, delivered an invited talk titled ''Engineering Flexible and Conductive Polymer Composites for Advanced Drug Delivery and Biosensor Interfaces'' at the 2024 Fall Meeting of the European Materials Research Society (E-MRS) in Warsaw, Poland.

• On August 20, Dr. Xinne Zhao and Nikolas Galensowske from our group joined a boat cruise hosted by the Harvard-MIT Germany Trek to represent Dresden’s scientific community. Under the motto “From Renovation to Innovation in Silicon Saxony: Successes and Challenges”, our colleagues had the opportunity to connect with MIT students and employees, companies like SAP and scientists from diverse research areas based in Dresden.

• Xuan Peng, a PhD student at our department, delivered a contributed talk titled "Investigation of Dual-Targeting Tumor Spheroids with CAR T Cell Therapy in Hydrogel Microbeads" at the  Biointerfaces International Conference 2024, in Switzerland.

• We congratulate our PhD student, Isli Cela, for winning Best Poster Award at the Biointerfaces International Conference 2024 (Switzerland) for her poster: "A vigilant inspector: Label-free biosensing for on-site immunotherapeutic drug monitoring"

• We welcome Lulu Song as a new PhD student in our department. She completed her Master's degree in Electronic Information and her research topic will deal with the control of magnetically-driven swarm hydrogel soft beads for drug delivery.
• We welcome Nikolas Galensowske as a new PhD student in our department. He did his Master's degree in Industrial Biotechnology at TU Munich. He will focus on the establishment of a microfluidic monitoring system for realistic gel-encapsulated 3D cancer models.
  
• Great news! Our cover from article ‘Impact of Viscosity on Human Hepatoma Spheroids in Soft Core-Shell Microcapsules’ by Xuan Peng, Željko Janićijević, et al., is online. 

• Our article ‘’Portable droplet-based real-time monitoring of pancreatic α-amylase in postoperative patients‘’ by X. Zhao, D. Makarov & L. Baraban is now published in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics (IF: 12.6). Congratulations!

• Great news! Our extended gate field-effect transistor biosensing platform and the related publication ’’Multiplexed extended gate field-effect transistor biosensor with gold nanoantennae as signal amplifiers’’ are featured in a press release of Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf and subsequently covered by various important news outlets around the world. Thank you for the support and recognition!
  • https://www.analytica-world.com/de/news/1182677/neuer-ansatz-fuer-schnellen-und-kostenguenstigen-nachweis-von-krankheitserregern.html
  • https://smartpress.by/news/61479/
  • https://planet-today.ru/novosti/nauka/item/164076-pribor-razmerom-s-ladon-sposoben-diagnostirovat-32-razlichnykh-zabolevaniya
  • https://www.bionity.com/en/news/1182677/new-approach-for-fast-and-cost-effective-pathogen-detection.html
  • https://aracajuagoranoticias.com.br/pesquisadores-criam-chip-que-identifica-32-doencas-de-uma-vez-veja/
  • https://www.ebiotrade.com/newsf/2024-2/20240208015239922.htm
  • https://www.el.gr/scie-tech/iatriko-ergastirio-se-tsip-ektelei-32-pa/
  • https://www.mtdialog.de/news/artikel/neuer-nachweis-fuer-krankheitserreger
  • https://www.crumpe.com/2024/02/nouvelle-approche-pour-une-detection-rapide-et-rentable-des-agents-pathogenes/
  • https://newsleaflets.com/new-approach-for-fast-and-cost-effective-pathogen-detection
  • https://www.cnbeta.com.tw/articles/science/1416921.htm
  • https://newatlas.com/medical/biosensor-off-the-shelf-components-detects-32-pathogens/
  • https://ru24.net/english/371279026/
  • https://www.deutschesgesundheitsportal.de/2024/02/07/hzdr-team-entwickelt-neuen-ansatz-fuer-schnellen-und-kostenguenstigen-nachweis-von-krankheitserregern/

• Our article ‘Impact of Viscosity on Human Hepatoma Spheroids in Soft Core-Shell Microcapsules’ by Xuan Peng, Željko Janićijević, et al., has been accepted for publication in Advanced Healthcare Materials. Congratulations!

--- 2023 ---

• We extend our heartiest welcome to Dr. Ahmed Alsadig as a Post-doc in our team. He completed his PhD at the University of Trieste, Italy, in the group of Dr. Loredana Casalis on "Harnessing the plasmonic properties of gold nanoparticles: functionalization strategies coupled with novel spectroscopic tools." Afterwards, he visited our group last summer as a guest researcher. His research here at HZDR will primarily focus on using optimized gold nanoparticles coupled with biomolecules relevant to theranostic applications in cancer.

• Our review article "Design and Development of Transient Sensing Devices for Healthcare Applications" by Ž. Janićijević, T. Huang, D. I. Sandoval Bojórquez, T. H. Tonmoy, S. Pané, D. Makarov & L. Baraban was recently accepted for publication in the journal Advanced Science. Congratulations!

• Dr. Željko Janićijević recently delivered an invited lecture at the seminar of the Department of Physics and Astronomy "Augusto Righi" at the University of Bologna entitled "Advances in biomedical device engineering: From polymeric biomaterials for electrically controlled drug delivery systems to cost-effective electrochemical biosensors"

• Our review article ’’Extended-gate field-effect transistor chemo- and biosensors: State of the art and perspectives’’ by Ž. Janićijević, T. Nguyen-Le & L. Baraban is now published in the journal Next Nanotechnology. Congratulations!

• Our article ‘Population dynamics of cross-protection against β-lactam antibiotics in droplet microreactors’ by Xinne Zhao et al., has been published in Frontiers in Microbiology. Congratulations!

• We are happy to welcome Bogdana Đorđević! She is a Master student at the School of Electrical Engineering and an Undergraduate student at the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy at the University of Belgrade, Serbia. At HZDR, she will be working on developing flexible biosensors for lactate detection.

• We congratulate Daniel Nieder on receiving Best Poster Award at the HZDR DocSeminar 2023. At the conference, he presented his research about a thermal sensing interface for bioassay monitoring in well plates. We also congratulate the other awardees, Dominik Koll and Cansu Dağlar.
  

  

• We are happy to welcome Hatice Dilay Yazici! She is a Master student at Pamukkale University, Turkey and working as a research assistant at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the same university. At HZDR, she will be conducting research about G-FET biosensors for ferritin detection.
  

  

• Exciting news! Our article entitled ’’Multiplexed extended gate field-effect transistor biosensor with gold nanoantennae as signal amplifiers’’ by Željko Janićijević and Trang-Anh Nguyen-Le et al. has been accepted for publication in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics (IF: 12.6). Congratulations!

• Our joint PhD student Anja Madleine Markl has published an article in the journal Analyst, titled “Reporter emission multiplexing in digital PCRs (REM-dPCRs): direct quantification of multiple target sequences per detection channel by population specific reporters”. This work is an extension of her Master's thesis and represents a significant achievement. Congratulations!

• Our article "Impedimetrische Nanotechnik für Bioanalytik und Diagnostik" ("Impedimetric Nanodevices for Bioanalytics and Diagnostics" in English) by D. I. Sandoval-Bojorqez et al. has been published in Wiley Analytical Science Magazine and GIT Labor-Fachzeitschrift. This brief article illustrates the potential of nanoscopic impedimetric biosensors for the detection of functional biomolecules and showcases the fundamental mechanism of biodetection using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.

• Guest researchers this summer: We are happy to welcome two guest researchers at our department!

Amna Batool: Amna is a PhD student from Monash University that have joined HZDR as part of a collaborative project called MHELTHERA (Helmholtz international lab). Amna has a Master's degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Currently, she develops targeted and biocompatible nano-radiopharmaceuticals to be used as theranostics agents against cancer cells.

Dr. Ahmed Alsadig: Ahmed is a visiting researcher within our department. His primary research revolves around exploiting surface modification strategies to enhance the responsiveness of plasmonic nanoparticles to improve health-relevant biomolecule detection.

• Our group contributed the article `Nanoelektronik für Immuntherapien` to the 17th edition of the NCT/ UCC-Wissenschaftsmagazin `Krebs im Focus`. We describe the encouraging trend of nanoelectronics for life science and the future advances it can provide to the science community progressing from conventional medicine to individualized precision medicine in clinical oncology.

• The cover image based on the Research Article "Shell engineering in soft alginate-based capsules for culturing liver spheroids" by Xuan Peng, Željko Janićijević, et al. was selected as the Outside Back Cover: (Biotechnology Journal 6/2023)

• We congratulate Diana Isabel Sandoval Bojorquez on receiving the prestigious "Young Researcher Award" at the European Materials Research Society (E-MRS) 2023 Spring Meeting, Symposium G-Flexible bioelectronics: a rising star for in situ bioanalysis. At the conference, she presented her research about the integration of flexible sensors and their role in developing custom-made culturing platforms for in vitro monitoring.

• Recently, our research on nanobiosensors for COVID-19 related analytes was covered by MDR Sachsenspiegel!
• Exciting news! Our article 'Impedimetric Nanobiosensor for the Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Antigens and Antibodies' reached the attention score of 88, placing it in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.

• We welcome Daniel Nieder as a new PhD student in our department. He has a Master's degree in Applied Life Sciences from UAS Kaiserslautern. He will focus on the development of a nanoelectronic sensor platform for the detection of multiple cancer immunity markers.

• Our article ‘Shell Engineering in Soft Alginate-based Capsules for Culturing Liver Spheroids’ by Xuan Peng, Željko Janićijević et al., has been accepted in Biotechnology Journal. Congratulations!

• Our article 'High-Throughput Gel Microbeads as Incubators for Bacterial Competition Study' by Trang-Anh Nguyen-Le, Xinne Zhao et al., has been accepted in Micromachine. Congratulations!

• We welcome Isli Çela as a new PhD student in our department. She is from Albania. She has a Master's Degree in Molecular Biology and Genetics. She will focus on the development of biosensors for the detection of multiple cancer immunity markers, which would in turn open new possibilities toward personalized efficient immunotherapy.

  

• Our article 'Impedimetric Nanobiosensor for the Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Antigens and Antibodies' by Diana Isabel Sandoval Bojórquez et al., has been accepted in ACS Sensors.  The article reached to be one of the top 10 read in February in ACS Sensors. Congratulations!

• In January, Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG)s selects Dr. Larysa Baraban as ‚Physikerin der Woche‘ (Female Physisist of the Week). Also check it on social media. Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Source: A. Wirsig / HZDR

--- 2022 ---

• We wish Dr. Tao Huang all the best! Tao is on the way to China after five successful years spent in our group.

• MDR Sachsen visits our labs to make the video for the news broadcast. Have a look here.
• Group leader Dr. Larysa Baraban receives the prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant from European commission to study cancer immunophenotyping using nanoelectronics. Have a look at our press release.

Source: HZDR / A. Wirsig

• We congratulate Diana Isabel Sandoval Bojorquez for receiving the prestigious oral presentation award at European Materials Research Society Fall Meeting 2022. More here.

• Our team contributed to the book ‘Curvilinear Micromagnetism’ with the chapter ‘Curvilinear Magnetic Architectures for Biomedical Engineering’
• Our team contributed to the book ‘Microfluidics and Nanofluidics - Fundamentals and Applications’ with the chapter ‘Real-Time Tracking of Individual Droplets in Multiphase Microfluidics’

• We welcome Ahmed Alsadig from University Trieste as an internship researcher in our group. Ahmed will deal with the development of the surface functionalization of the nanoparticles.
• Our article ' Electrokinetic Janus micromotors moving on topographically flat chemical patterns' by Tao Huang et al., has been accepted  in Communications Materials. Congratulations

• Review article 'Real-Time Monitoring of Blood Parameters in the Intensive Care Unit: State-of-the-Art and Perspectives' has been published in Journal of Clinical Medicine.
• Our article ' Multisite Dopamine Sensing With Femtomolar Resolution Using a CMOS Enabled Aptasensor Chip' by V. Seesi and L. Baraban et al., has been published in Frontiers in Neuroscience. Congratulations!
• Congratulations, Xuan Peng, on the Best Poster Award for her poster "Engineering of the alginate capsules for human hepatoma cell (HepG2) encapsulation" at the EMBL conference, Microfluidics 2022.

• Our article "Nanosensors in clinical development of CAR-T cell immunotherapy" by Trang-Anh, Nguyen-Le el. al. has been published in the Biosensors and Bioelectronics journal. 
• Tao Huang successfully defended his PhD thesis at TU Dresden, Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering. Congratulations!!!

• Xinne Zhao successfully defended her PhD thesis at TU Dresden, Faculty of Mechanical Science and Engineering. Congratulations!!!

--- 2021 ---

• Larysa Baraban acts as co-editor in ChemNanoMat, for the article collection 'Beyond Active Colloids: From Functional Materials to Microscale Robotics’  together with Juliane Simmchen and WeiWang.
• The talk on  "OFET biosensors based on stretchable semiconducting polymer: a proof-of-concept application in COVID-19 pandemic" by our PhD Student Trang Anh Nguyen Le won Second Prize for Best Presentation by Young Scientist in NANONET Annual Workshop 2021. Congratulations! (Image credit: Dr. Zahn Peter)

• Our article ‘Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Antigens and Antibodies Using OFET Biosensors Based on a Soft and Stretchable Semiconducting Polymer’ by Trang Anh Nguyen et al., has been accepted in ACS Biomater Sci Eng. Congratulations!

• Our scientific poster "Highly Sensitive Silicon Nanowire Biosensor Devices for the Investigation of UniCAR Platform in Immunotherapy" submitted to the 8th International Symposium on Sensor Science (I3S Dresden) have won "Best Poster Award to TUD participants". Congratulations!
• Our work 'Coexistence of fluorescent Escherichia coli strains in millifluidic droplet reactors' has been selected as the inner back cover in Lab on a Chip Journal, issue 8, 2021. Check it here!

• We are happy to welcome Dr. Željko Janićijević to join us as PostDoc since 1st of April 2021. 
• Our article 'Impact of surface charge on the motion of light-activated Janus micromotors' by Tao Huang, et al., has been accepted in The European Physical Journal E. In this paper, we investigated the dependence of the motility on the ζ-potential of the underlying substrate. The direction of the motion could be inverted by changing the sign of the motor’s zeta potential. The velocity of these micromotors can be further tuned by varying the boundary’s physicochemical properties that they are close to. Congratulations!

 

• Our article ‘Coexistence of fluorescent Escherichia coli strains in millifluidic droplets reactors’ by Xinne Zhao, Rico Illing et al., has been accepted in Lab-on–a-Chip. Congratulations!

• Our article ‘Electrochemical detection of ascorbic acid in artificial sweat using flexible alginate/CuO modified electrode‘ has been accepted in Microchimica Acta.
• Our article 'Nanocytometer for smart analysis of peripheral blood and acute myeloid leukemia: a pilot study' by Julian Schütt, Diana Sandoval Bojorquez et al., has been accepted in Nano Letters. Congratulations!

• Manuscript of Tao Huang et al. on the study of the inverse solidification induced by active particles are highlighted with a front cover page in Advanced Functional Materials. (to wait until publishing)
• We are happy to welcome Dr. Marvin Barahona to join us as PostDoc since 1th of August 2020. He will focus on the development of the in-vivo sensors integrated onto the surface of catheters and the development of electronic platforms for monitoring of biological signals.
• Our article ‘Inverse solidification induced by active Janus particle‘ by Tao Huang et al., has been accepted for publication in Advanced Functional Materials. Congratulations Tao!
• Our paper of Tao Huang et al. on the study of the exclusion behavior in active soft matter systems is highlighted with a cover page of Langmuir. This work is part of the Special Issue on Advances in Active Materials. T. Huang, S. Gobeil, X. Wang, V. Misko, F. Nori, W. De Malsche, J. Fassbender, D. Makarov, G. Cuniberti, and L. Baraban 'Anisotropic exclusion effect between photocatalytic Ag/AgCl Janus particles and passive beads in a dense colloidal matrix' Langmuir 36, 7091 (2020). 

• Our article ‘Intrinsic plasticity of silicon nanowire neurotransistors for dynamic memory and learning functions‘ is highlighted in multiple news outlets (see summary below): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41928-020-0412-1/metrics
• Our article ‘Intrinsic plasticity of silicon nanowire neurotransistors for dynamic memory and learning functions‘ by Eunhye Baek et al., has been published in Nature Electronics. Congratulations Eunhye! Baek, E., Das, N.R., Cannistraci, C.V. et al. Intrinsic plasticity of silicon nanowire neurotransistors for dynamic memory and learning functions. Nat Electron (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-020-0412-1