Joseph Wang - US grants

Different bioselective voltammetric electrodes will be developed as effective sensors for pharmaceutical and clinically important compounds in body fluids. Enhanced selectivity and sensitivity will be achieved by controlled accumulation of the desired compound (or group of compounds) onto the electrode surface. This preconcentration step will be accomplished by selective attachment (via covalent reaction) or preferential adsorption to surfaces of modified or ordinary electrodes. Electrode coverage, with a proper membrane or polymer, would provide additional selectivity by controlling the access to the surface. Following the controlled preconcentration step, the electrode will be transferred from the sample solution to a suitable blank solution where the surface-bound species will be quantified. Such 'medium exchange' procedure will enhance the selectivity by eliminating background currents due to solution-phase species. Large array of drugs, vitamins, toxic organic compounds and other compounds of clinical importance will be tested as candidates for this bioselective voltammetric detection. In order to realize the best possible response for each analyte (high specificity and minimum matrix interferences), we will examine various experimental conditions, such as electrode material and functionalities, solution composition, pH, temperature, mass-transport or membrane porosity. Various surface modification procedures will be examined for obtaining the specific response. The optimum combination of these operating conditions will be used in the operation of the designed dipping-type clinical sensors. Competition experiments will be designed to test the specificity of the sensor. Applications to selective measurements of various drugs, biochemical and carcinogens in body fluids, using batch and flow systems will be tested and demonstrated.

The proposed research offers an innovative approach for addressing serious errors encountered in in-vivo glucose monitoring through the rational design of oxygen-independent interference-free fluorocarbon/metalized-carbon enzyme electrodes. The use of perfluorochemicals, often employed as blood substitutes due to their remarkable oxygen solubility, as a major component of the biocomposite electrode, should satisfy the oxygen demand internally. The new catalytic metal-carbon component of the electrode would offer preferential detection of the enzymatically-liberated peroxide species, and freedom from common electroactive interferences. The resulting fluorocarbon/metalized-carbon biocomposite microelectrode will thus possess the high accuracy essential for triggering proper alarms, and for making valid therapeutic decisions.

The goal of this collaborative project is to develop an automated hand-held micromachined electrochemical flow analyzer for high-speed single-cell genomics analysis. Innovative biosensor technology, based on new highly selective and sensitive PNA-dendrimer recognition chemistry, high-density parallel-channel hybridization microreactors, a label-free electrochemical detection of the released targets at downstream microelectrodes, and state-of-the-art microfabrication/micromachining technology will be used for meeting the challenges of rapid and sensitive single-cell nucleic-acid sequencing.

Professor Joseph Wang of New Mexico State University is supported by the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program to study nanoparticle-biopolymer assemblies for use as sensors. In particular, DNA hybridization events will be detected electrically on gold nanoparticles, with eventual applications in biodiagnostics and biodetection. New assays that couple multiple amplification pathways and an effective magnetic separation will allow for increased selectivity and sensitivity in the sensors. A new electrochemical coding technology will be developed for the simultaneous detection of multiple DNA targets. These projects will be combined on microfluidic device platforms.

The ability to miniaturize complex chemical functions to achieve lab-on-a-chip is a goal of nanotechnology. In addition, this work can be related to biowarfare detection and thus has implications for national security.

The explanation of Polar Mesospheric Summer Echoes (PMSEs) has become one of the central challenges in near earth space science. These radar echoes are often observed in conjunction with high altitude noctilucent clouds (NLCs), which consist of charged dust particles. Since NLCs may provide evidence of global climate change on earth and are an indicator of the evolution and dynamics of the near earth space environment, a quantitative understanding of the relationship between PMSEs and NLCs has also become a forefront issue. PMSEs are believed to be produced by small-scale electron density irregularities in the NLC source layer. Recent simultaneous sounding rocket and radar measurements have produced the most complete picture to date of the plasma configuration inside NLCs and the relationship to PMSEs. These measurements provide strong evidence that PMSEs are enhanced in the boundary layer between the charged dust cloud and the background mesospheric plasma where plasma irregularities are also observed to be enhanced. Funding is requested to make an important and substantial advance in the quantitative understanding of the source of electron density irregularities believed to produce PMSEs. Consistent with the recent experimental evidence, a new model will be developed to consider the NLC boundary layer as a primary source region for PMSE generation. This investigation will provide a new methodology and approach to gaining fundamental insight into the importance of NLC boundary layers in producing PMSEs.

The proposed activity will have broad impact by establishing infrastructure and collaboration between academic departments at the principal investigator's home institution. The activity will also sustain long term collaboration between the principal investigator and government research laboratories. The activity will allow collaborations to be furthered between the atmospheric science and international plasma communities. Finally, a minority PI and graduate student education will be supported by this work.

Goodwin
0332793

ABSTRACT

The award provides funds to develop the Phase I Pilot - protocol development stage of a program that the PI's hope will lead to the development and deployment of an in-situ biosensor for remote quantification of aquatic organisms. The biosensor would use electrochemical detection to measure rDNA in the environment without target amplification by the polymerase chair reaction (PCR). Gene-based remote sensing requires the development of easy-to-use, fast, inexpensive, miniaturized analytical devices. Electrochemical detection of DNA hybridization is uniquely qualified to meet size, cost, and power requirements of field systems. This Phase I development will focus on two critical components of biosensor technology development - remote DNA extraction and direct detection of DNA without using PCR amplification. Meeting these two challenges are critical first steps toward developing the next generation of remote sensing technology. Species-specific data generation in conjunction with synoptic measurements of relevant environmental variables could significantly contribute to the understanding of a variety of processes related to plankton dynamics, initiation of algal blooms, and the spread of coral disease. Biosensors to monitor toxic organisms could provide early warnings of the need to close fisheries or beaches.
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Professor Joseph Wang of Arizona State University is supported by the Analytical and Surface Chemistry program for the design of detectors of biomaterials with a focus on the detection of proteins. The group is applying different metal-sulfides for coding different proteins and analyzing simultaneously different antigens by the respective coded antibodies. This idea is being extended by combining magnetic beads/protein-protein complexes/metal labels as supramoleuclar structures that are magnetically collected on the electrode, and the collected metal conjugates are electrochemically analyzed. A further topic is the detection of single base polymorphism by the labeling of individual nucleotides with nanoparticle labels. Another topic includes the application of DNA barcodes for the amplified electrochemical detection of protein-protein interactions. The last topic in the program involves the construction of carbon nanotubes/enzymes layers on electrodes to increase the enzyme content on the electrodes, and electrically contact the proteins.

Detection of biomaterials (proteins, peptides, nucleic acids) is of steadily growing interest, e.g. in the diagnostic of disease markers (tumor markers, viral antigens, therapy control) or the control of food safety, environmental pollutions or biohazards. Much effort is thus required to develop reliable, simple, fast and efficient tests to detect as low amounts as possible. Detecting trace amounts of proteins using straight-forward methodologies (e.g. electrochemically) is becoming increasingly important.

A junior faculty specializing in experimental studies of upper atmospheric electrodynamics, chemistry and plasma physics is supported. Student support is realized from the technically proficient student population at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. A graduate degree granting program in Space Science is established following curriculum augmentation of three graduate level classes in Space Physics. This faculty augmentation, along with the established membership if Virginia polytechnic Institute in the National Institute of Aerospace establishes a new international leader in Space Science education and research with particular emphasis placed upon ethnic and gender diversity in the Space Sciences.

The investigators will conduct an experimental and theoretical research program to characterize charged dust in the summer polar mesosphere. The characterization of this charged dust and the associated physical processes is a forefront issue in upper atmospheric space science due to the possible intimate relationship with global climate change. Significant progress has been made in the last decade using space-based measurements to characterize this charged dust and correlate the existence of this charged dust with a fascinating ground-based radio signature called Polar Mesospheric Summer Echoes (PMSE). PMSEs result from scattering from electron irregularities which are due to electron charging onto the irregular dust density. Since space-based measurements are still difficult to make accurately, an independent method of characterizing the dust utilizing the ground-based PMSE signatures would be a significant step forward in providing diagnostic capabilities. Recently it has been shown that PMSEs can be modified by heating the source region with a ground-based ionospheric radio wave heating facility. The temporal evolution of the PMSEs during the heating cycle shows tremendous potential for characterizing the dust layer since this temporal evolution has been predicted to be directly related to the physical characteristics of the dust in the PMSE source region. However, current models of the temporal evolution of the irregularities associated with PMSE during the heating cycle are limited and not able to exploit all of the information available with a more accurate description of the irregularity temporal evolution. The study involved here will result in the development of a much more accurate model for the temporal evolution of the electron irregularities believed to produce PMSE during radio wave heating. This study will utilize this more accurate description of the irregularity temporal evolution to provide direct diagnostic information to characterize the dust layer. Experiments will be developed from the predictions of the model calculations. The experiments will concentrate on investigation of modifying High Frequency (HF) PMSE where important new physical processes are predicted to exist which have not been studied by past work which has concentrated on investigating modifying Very High Frequency (VHF) PMSE. Experimental observations will be performed at an ionospheric heating facility in Alaska to corroborate and refine the model and model predictions. This facility is well suited for such an experimental study. Ultimately, the research plan will provide a holistic approach to the development of better diagnostics for characterizing the charged dust layer and also contribute to an understanding of PMSE generation. This study will support human resource development through graduate student training. The effort will also serve to support infrastructure and collaborative work internally within the investigators' institution which is important due to the recent internal initiative to expand upper atmospheric space science research. Finally, the experimental component of the work will be utilized to expose underrepresented undergraduate college and high school students in science and engineering to space science at the investigators' home institution.

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The discovery that the detection limit of potentiometric sensors may be improved by 3 to 6 orders of magnitude of traditionally accepted levels have drastically changed the field of ion sensing. In this continuation proposal, new avenues will be explored to more completely assess the limits of such sensors and to design novel sensing concepts based on ion fluxes at ion-selective membranes. Since potentiometry, as one-dimensional technique, is not subject to scaling laws, the limits of potentiometric sensors will be explored in confined sample volumes. This knowledge will be used to design ultra-sensitive DNA detection devices based on metal nanoparticle probes that would be potentiometrically detected after oxidation. Potentiometry will be coupled to analyte enrichment processes, in analogy to their voltammetric counterparts for a further drastic decrease in detection limit that may surpass that of any other electrochemical method. Ion fluxes at ion-selective membranes, induced chemically and galvanostatically, will be used to design 10-fold more sensitive measuring devices than in traditional potentiometry, which will be very useful for electrolyte and drug monitoring. The perturbance of such fluxes by surface binding events will be used to explore novel approaches to biosensing at liquid-polymer interfaces.

OISE-0826431 (Wang, Joseph J., University of Southern California) IRES: Participation in an International Student Satellite Project at KIT in Japan. This three-year International Research Experience for Students (IRES) collaborative research project between University of Southern California (USC) and the Kyushu Institute of Technology (KIT) in Japan will annually support six U.S. undergraduate and graduate students each spending three-months at KIT to participate in a satellite project. The U.S. student participants will work with KIT students to design, build, test, and operate a micro-satellite. The satellite mission will investigate material degradation in space, validate a CMOS camera module for use on micro-satellites, and take high resolution images of the Earth from orbit. This project represents the first ever comprehensive international collaboration for U.S. students directly related to a space mission, and will provide the participants with a global perspective in space exploration. The participants will broadly disseminate their research findings to scientists and engineers working on spacecraft environmental interactions and satellite design.

0853379 and 0853375
Posner, Jonathan D. and Wang, Joseph

Synthetic nanoscale motors represent a major step towards the development of practical nanomachines. Despite impressive progress, manmade nanomachines lack the efficiency and versatility of their biological counterparts. Extending the scope of synthetic nanomotors to diverse and realistic conditions requires deep understanding of their fundamental physical mechanisms. This proposed collaborative research aims at gaining such understanding of the underlying physical mechanisms of catalytic nanowire motors. The intellectual merit of the proposed work is to extend the fundamental understanding of the nanomotors propulsion, through a parallel experimental and theoretical approach, to guide the rationale design of powerful and versatile manmade nanomachines that can perform demanding tasks. The three main aims of the proposed work are: (1) understand physical mechanisms that govern the motion and performance of nanomotors using novel experiments and theoretical models (2) Identify and optimize nanowire properties (catalysts composition and morphology, wire shape, and surface coatings) that yield order of magnitude faster and more powerful nanomotors. (3) Fabricate nanomotors capable of operating in a wide range of environments (pH, ionic strength) and fuels (e.g. glucose, ethanol), enabling ranging operation in a variety of applications and demanding tasks such as directed drug delivery, directed nanoscale self-assembly, chemotactic environmental remediation, or microchip bioassays.

This research is transformative in that the improved understanding of the fundamental catalytic nanomotor physics will lead to powerful motors that are stable over long periods for performing complex tasks in a wide variety of environments and applications. To ensure success of the interdisciplinary research program, the team is comprised of two co-PIs with complementary experience. The proposed effort requires expertise in catalysis and electrochemistry (Wang), nanowire fabrication (Wang), low Reynolds number hydrodynamics (Posner), microscale diagnostics (Posner), electrokinetics and electrostatics (Posner). The PIs' extensive preliminary data, broad and complementary experience and past collaboration lay the groundwork for the success of the proposed activity.

The proposed effort will have broader impacts by integrating research with training, education, mentoring, and social outcomes. Particular emphasis will be given to the involvement of Hispanic students at the undergraduate and graduate research levels. They leverage the uniqueness of their locations by expanding undergraduate research opportunities for Hispanic students which have relatively high enrollment at ASU and UCSD, but low representation in engineering nationwide. This grant will provide distinctive experiences for undergraduate and graduate students to appreciate and participate in how their research on nanotechnology may transform society and to examine science and technology policy. In particular, they will develop a nanomachines course for a emerging nanotechnology curriculum in a new UCSD department of Nanoengineering. In addition, at ASU they aim to increase engineering graduate students? awareness of the societal and ethical implications of nanoscience and technology. In collaboration with faculty in the NSF Center for Nanotechnology in Society they will (1) develop a cross-listed, co-taught graduate level course entitled Societal and Ethical Implications of Scientific Research focusing on nanotechnologies; and (2) ASU and UCSD students will participate in a two week workshop in Washington, DC entitled "Science Outside the Lab: A Policy Dis-Orientation" which examines scientific policy and culture.

1066531
Wang

Intellectual Merits: Recent advances in signal processing with cascades of enzymatic reactions realizing logic gates, such as AND, OR, etc., as well as progress in networking these gates and coupling of the resulting systems to signal-responsive electrodes for output readout, have opened new biosensing opportunities. The goal of the proposed collaborative research program is to develop a new paradigm of digitally operating biosensors logically processing multiple biochemical signals through Boolean logic networks composed of biomolecular systems, yielding the final output signal as YES/NO responses. This activity will thus lead to high-fidelity biosensing compared to common single or parallel sensing devices. We will develop biochemical signal processing systems for novel biosensor concepts, with multiple input signals being processed via enzymatic or immune-recognition processes, in combination with electrochemical transduction of the output signal. To demonstrate the new concept of digital multi-signal processing biosensors, we will, for instance, design a model multi-enzyme sensing system aimed at rapid identification of the complex biomarker changes from a healthy person to the conditions of various pathophysiological dysfunctions. These experimental developments will be facilitated by theoretical modeling and design of new low-noise, scalable, multi-stage signal processing networks with digital logic gates, as well as non-Boolean network elements carried out by biochemical reactions. We will develop a comprehensive approach for optimization of networks for biosensing, incorporating components for analog/digital error suppression for larger networks. Specifically, for multiinput systems we will advance a novel strategy including modular network analysis, detailed network representation and adjustment of relative component activities, gate function optimization for the key gates in the network, and exploration of the role of non-Boolean network elements, e.g., filters. An important component of our research will be in interfacing of the biosensing logic systems with electrochemical transducers and chemical actuators, towards the development of practical logic gate biosensors and feedback-loop systems. Fundamental studies aimed at addressing the distinct challenges associated with the new biosensing paradigm will be carried out. Particular attention will be given to the surface confinement of the biomolecular "machinery" components, to the role of the system scalability, and to the efficient transduction of the output signals. We will also interface directly the new biochemical signal-processing assemblies with signal-responsive chemical actuators to yield "smart" feedback-loop systems, responding reversibly to inputs from the biochemical environment. This research is transformative since the improved understanding of the novel biomolecular logic systems will lead to powerful multi-analyte sensing devices and intelligent "Sense/Act" systems. Our collaborative, interdisciplinary program will require a coordinated effort at two institutions, and will utilize the state-ofthe-art bioelectronics and bionanotechnology advances recently developed by the participating teams. We offer the necessary complementary expertise and an established track record, as well as successful ongoing collaboration evidenced by joint high-quality publications and patent applications.

Broader Impacts and Outreach: Novel biosensor systems with built-in logic hold great promise to benefit a wide range of applications ranging from environmental and health monitoring to national defense and food safety. Logic biosensor systems of even moderate complexity will allow realizations of closed-loop ("Sense/Act/Treat") assemblies for security or biomedical applications, e.g., patient-tailored therapy. Our program will contribute to education and to ensuring national leadership in advanced science and technology. These impacts will be realized through training of the next generation of scientists, graduate students, and postdocs, and the introduction of new Nanobioelectronics and Nanobiotechnology classes. Inspiring high school and undergraduate students for scientific careers is a key element of our outreach. Outreach K-12 activities in both universities will thus include extensive pre-college mentorships and community activities.

Professor Shelley D. Minteer of University of Utah and Professor Joseph Wang of the University of California-San Diego are supported by the Chemical Catalysis Program in the Division of Chemistry to develop three-dimensional structures of nano building blocks to be used as supports and current collectors for enzymatic biofuel cells. Hierarchical catalyst supports in which macroscopic and microscopic pore structures are combined and independently controlled will be constructed using either porous carbon materials or templated microchannels. The proposed structures will be used as electrodes in conventional biofuel cells and in biofuel cells within microfluidic channels. The biofuel cell anodes will utilize a pair of NAD-dependent dehydrogenases (lactate and pyruvate dehydrogenase) with lactate as fuel, and with an NADH-recycling electrocatalyst polymer layer on the interior surface of the nanoporous metal layer to facilitate NADH redox chemistry within the nanoporous layer. The work will focus on electrode structure and activity and will seek insights into how these catalyst support structures can correlate with improved bioelectrode performance.

Current enzymatic biofuel cells are hampered by poor enzyme utilization, and the proposed nanostructured electrode design promises to alleviate this deficiency and improve the current/power density for the conversion of chemical energy of a fuel into electrical energy. The project will provide training for graduate and undergraduate and engage students from underrepresented minorities through the involvement of the PIs in a variety of outreach activities.

The Principal Investigator's team will perform 3D electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulations of whistler turbulence in a joint effort by the University of Southern California (USC) and the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), in order to understand the evolution of whistler turbulence and its role in energy transport and distribution in the solar wind and astrophysical plasmas. This team will study how the Earth and the heliosphere respond to small-scale, microscopic plasma processes created by turbulence, which may significantly affect the energy and momentum transport at the macroscopic scale in the interconnected Sun-heliosphere-Earth system. This team will also apply high performance computing techniques to plasma physics research through simulating the collective behavior of tens to hundreds of billions of particles on state-of-the-art, massively parallel supercomputers architectures using terabytes of memory. This research will lead to improved understanding of the effects of micro-scale plasma processes on the global dynamics of the macro-scale plasma systems that control the geospace environment.

This research will provide modeling tools and physics parameters that will be relevant to the data analysis and mission planning to be performed for upcoming spacecraft missions. These results will also directly contribute to improving space weather predictions and will support and sustain a collaborative research infrastructure between an academic institution and a government research laboratory. This project will support a graduate student's Ph.D. dissertation, and will contribute to additional education and training through the incorporation of the research results and computational models developed in this study into graduate-level plasma physics and computational simulation courses at USC.

Over 100,000 human diseases are caused by genetic alterations in the genome, and only a very small portion of these diseases can be cured. Gene editing represents a pivotal development in disease therapeutics as a powerful tool to correct defects and mutations within the genome. In particular, Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) Cas9 represents a paradigm shift in the ability to make precise, targeted genomic change. Recently, a few approaches have been developed for intracellular delivery of CRISPR/Cas9 complexes. While these approaches have some degree of success, it remains extremely challenging to achieve highly effective and efficient intracellular CRISPR/Cas9 delivery. This EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) grant supports research to design, manufacture, and test nanobots or nanoscale robots that can precisely target and deliver CRISPR/Cas9 to diseased cells and release the gene-editing agencies in a controlled fashion. The three-dimensional nanoscale printing method for fabricating the nanobots involves multi-materials printing and could be a powerful tool for scalable nanomanufacturing of functional nanoscale machines for a variety of applications. The nanobots could revolutionize gene or drug delivery to repair genetic disorder of many human diseases, which would have a strong impact on human health. The project offers exciting interdisciplinary training that integrates content from manufacturing to biomaterials to nanomachines to therapeutics for a diverse group of graduate and undergraduate students. Nanoscale printing and nanobots are excellent tools for laboratory demonstrations to attract high school students and teachers, and women and underrepresented minority researchers to science and engineering fields.

This project aims to investigate the nanomanufacturing processing of a novel nanobot system for targeted gene or drug delivery at the single cell level. The collaborative research team designs the nanobot using biocompatible materials and uses a nanoscale 3D printing system to fabricate it. The nanobot consists of a magnetic nanomotor and a biodegradable nano-cargo. The nanomotor, which is typically 200 nm round and 400 nm long, is 3D printed by embedding iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles in hydrogel. The nano-cargo, which is of similar dimensions, is also 3D printed by encapsulating CRISPR/Cas9 in a biodegradable hydrogel, so that CRISPR/Cas9 can be released through biodegradation once inside the cell. Fundamental research focuses on investigating the effects of material composition and properties, and nanomanufacturing processing parameters on the nanobot performance. The team also tests the efficacy of the nanobot to deliver CRISPR/Cas9 into cancer cells for tumor suppression. The scalability of the nanomanufacturing process is demonstrated through the reproducible fabrication of an array of nanobots.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

Project Summary The administration of L-Dopa therapies is highly individualized and must be dosed in accordance with the control of symptoms, which vary among individuals; hence, there is no ?standard dose? of L-Dopa. The long-term goal of this project is to develop a wearable microneedle sensor for continuous real-time monitoring of L-Dopa toward identifying the proper L-Dopa dosing regimen and improving the management of Parkinson's disease. Such continuous L-Dopa monitoring capability would constitute a paradigm shift by allowing PD patients and physicians to better manage the disease. As with a closed- loop glucose monitor-insulin pump system, the insight gathered from this research could lead towards the development of a metered L-Dopa pump, ensuring accurate L-Dopa administration by accounting for circulating blood levels of L-Dopa. The proposed research is significant because of its potential to improve public health through improved understanding of symptom fluctuations at different disease stages and its contribution to scientific knowledge about how to improve the disease management.

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a glucose sensor for diabetes patients. Diabetes mellitus impacts over 37.3 million people within the United States and 422 million people worldwide. All type 1 and most type 2 diabetes patients need frequent glucose testing to prevent life-threatening hyper/hypoglycemia, ketoacidosis, and long-term complications due to mismanaged glucose levels. Existing glucose sensors include capillary-blood fingersticks and subdermal continuous glucose monitors (CGM). Currently, over 95% of diabetes patients still use finger-pricking glucometers as their main glucose monitoring method, which is painful, messy, inconvenient, and creates social barriers. This technology provides a pain-free, convenient, and accessible sensing technology with discreet usage that helps diabetes patients understand their health status without the physical, social and financial burdens of CGM and fingersticks. With improved user compliance, this technology can collect data for personalized lifestyle training and personalized guiding services for better diet and diabetes management, and potentially improve the life quality of diabetes patients while reducing their healthcare costs.<br/><br/>This I-Corps project is based on the development of a completely non-invasive, touch-based glucose sensor for spot glucose checking for diabetes patients. Unlike previous non-invasive glucose sensors that rely on unreliable near-infrared light or radio-frequency dielectric spectroscopy, this technology is based on FDA-approved electrochemical enzymatic glucose sensing which is highly selective and accurate. Instead of using fingertip capillary blood as the sensing biofluid, this sensor design allows the direct measurement of glucose within the constantly available passive perspiration from the fingertips. The technology allows users to obtain a sweat glucose reading by placing their fingers directly onto the sensor surface, where the natural fingertip sweat reacts readily with the sensor to produce an amperometric signal. With a first-time personalized calibration, the user is able to convert their sweat glucose signal to their blood glucose level with high accuracy. Thus, touch-based, non-invasive and reliable glucose sensing can be achieved.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.