Presidential scholarship winner works on materials for biosensors

Lead Engineer Alyona Khadieva studies N-arylamine derivatives of phenothiazine.

She seeks ways to synthesize molecules capable of self-arranging in a particular order when placed on a sensor surface, or, in other words, electroactive nanostructured materials.

“Transiting to personalized medicine would not be possible without creating diagnostic tools for continuous monitoring of biologically significant compounds during diagnostics and treatment,” says Khadieva. “We need to produce mobile, cheap, compact and effective biomarkers. Current prototypes existing on the market are costly and thus not really suitable for large-scale use.”

However, the scientist thinks that arylamine derivatives of phenothiazine are the key to creating such affordable materials.

“We were the first to use arylamine derivatives of phenothiazine for biosensors,” explains she. “They are structurally close to methylene blue and polyaniline, but they are cheaper and more soluble. The possibility of functionalization of aromatic substituents of phenothiazine by fragments for the formation of intermolecular hydrogen bonds makes it possible to create electroactive nanostructured materials on their basis according to the “bottom-up” principle.”

 

Source text: Larisa Busil

Photo: Alyona Khadieva

Translation: Yury Nurmeev