Thanks to its unparalleled selectivity, along with other technical advantages such as the fast speed, superb sensitivity and the ease of use, biosensor technology has been demonstrated extremely important and very versatile in a vast range of practical applications, including biomedical research and clinical services, food and drug industry, and environmental sciences. In this project, corresponding to NASA's Vision (To improve life here, To extend life to there, To find life beyond), we will make our efforts towards the development of several prototypes of advanced electrochemical biosensors by implementation of the reagent-less and refreshable sensing techniques and the cutting-edge nanotechnologies. Following this project, we will continue the research in this area, which is expected to make significant contributions to the advances in space science in a near future. The availability of the new biosensors will enable us to monitor the health condition of astronauts dynamically, perform real-time environmental assessments to prevent harmful fungal/microorganism growth in space vehicles, and facilitate the search of extraterrestrial life.

Contact Information:

Dr. Xin Wei, Assistant Professor
Department of Chemistry
Texas Southern University
3100 Cleburne Avenue
Houston, Texas 77004

Phone: (713)313-1911 and (713)313-7013 FAX: (713)313-7824
E-Mail: wei_xi@tsu.edu