(393a) Award Submission: Quantum Capacitance Based Amplified Graphene Phononics for Studying Neurodegenerative Diseases | AIChE

(393a) Award Submission: Quantum Capacitance Based Amplified Graphene Phononics for Studying Neurodegenerative Diseases

Authors 

Keisham, B. - Presenter, University of Illinois at Chicago
Seksenyan, A., University of Illinois at Chicago
Denyer, S., University of Illinois at Chicago
Kheirkhah, P., University of Illinois at Chicago
Arnone, G., University of Illinois at Chicago
Avalos, P., Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Bhimani, A. D., University of Illinois at Chicago
Svendsen, C., Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Berry, V., University of Illinois at Chicago
Mehta, A., University of Illinois at Chicago
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is the most common adult-onset motor neuron disease, characterized by a rapid loss of upper and lower motor-neurons resulting in patient death from respiratory failure within 3-5 years of initial symptoms onset. Although at least 30 genes of major effect have been reported, the pathobiology of ALS is not well understood. Compounding this is the lack of a reliable laboratory test which can accurately diagnose this rapidly deteriorating disease. Herein, we report on graphene’s phonon vibration-energies as a sensitive measure of the composite dipole moment of the components of the interfaced cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to specifically identify patients with ALS disease. The second-order overtone of in-plane phonon vibration energy (2D) of graphene shifts by 3.2±0.5 cm-1 for all ALS patients studied in this work. Further, the amount of n-doping induced shift in phonon energy of graphene, interfaced with CSF, is specific to the investigated neurodegenerative disease (ALS, Multiple Sclerosis and Motor Neuron Disease). By removing a severe roadblock in disease detection, this technology can be applied to study diagnostic biomarkers for researchers developing therapeutics and clinicians initiating treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.