{"681660":{"#nid":"681660","#data":{"type":"event","title":"MS Defense by Avik Banerjee ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAvik Banerjee\u003Cbr\u003E[Advisor: Prof. Carr]\u003Cbr\u003Ewill defend a master\u2019s thesis entitled,\u003Cbr\u003EADVANCING NANOGAP TECHNOLOGY MINIATURIZATION AND AUTOMATION FOR SINGLE-MOLECULE DETECTION BEYOND\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003EEARTH\u003Cbr\u003EOn\u003Cbr\u003EWednesday, April 16 at 3:00 p.m.\u003Cbr\u003EWeber Space Science \u0026amp; Technology Building 304 Conf Room\u003Cbr\u003EAbstract\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA central objective of planetary exploration is the search for signs of life or prebiotic chemistry\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003Ebeyond Earth, through the detection of biomolecular signatures on a range of potentially habitable\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003Eenvironments such as icy moons, planets, and small bodies like asteroids. Building on previous\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003Eiterations, this thesis presents advances to the Electronic Life-Detection Instrument for\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003EEnceladus\/Europa (ELIE), designed to detect amino acids, RNA, DNA, and other charged polymers\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003Eindicative of life through nanogap-based sensing. The latest iteration, ELIE 3.0, features\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003Edownsized subsystems, enhanced capabilities, and a transition to integrated hardware. Key\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003Eoptimizations include consolidating a multi-amplifier design into a single Low Noise Amplifier\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003E(LNA) to reduce noise and system complexity. This required a detailed analysis of electrical noise\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003Eand bias sources, leading to targeted mitigation strategies that improved measurement fidelity\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003Eacross various current ranges and sampling rates. In parallel, ELIE\u0027s software evolved from a basic\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003Ecommand-line interface to a full-featured graphical user interface (GUI) with real-time logging,\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003Emultithreading, and structured HDF5 data recording. The GUI provides intuitive control over system\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003Ediagnostics and data acquisition through responsive, modular dialog boxes, leveraging techniques\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003Esuch as multithreading and asynchronous communication between worker threads. The GUI also features\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003Eautomated routines for gap formation, though automated sample delivery and electrophoresis\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003Eintegration remain future tasks. Pending future integration, a robust manual procedure was\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003Edeveloped and validated, demonstrating successful preliminary detection of amino acids deposited\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003Eonto the nanogap chip. Detection performance was evaluated using adaptive thresholding to account\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003Efor baseline current fluctuations, alongside statistical methods designed to isolate signal events\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003Ereliably.\u003Cbr\u003ELastly, heat-sterilization tests were conducted to assess the nanogap chip\u2019s resilience for future\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003Emissions. These developments advance ELIE beyond early TRL 2, laying the groundwork for maturation\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003Etoward higher readiness levels.\u003Cbr\u003ECommittee\u003Cbr\u003E\u2022 \u0026nbsp;Prof. Christopher Carr \u2013 School of Aerospace Engineering (advisor)\u003Cbr\u003E\u2022 \u0026nbsp;Prof. Masatoshi (Toshi) Hirabayashi \u2013 School of Aerospace Engineering\u003Cbr\u003E\u2022 \u0026nbsp;Prof. Brian Gunter \u2013 School of Aerospace Engineering\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EADVANCING NANOGAP TECHNOLOGY MINIATURIZATION AND\u003Cbr\u003EAUTOMATION FOR SINGLE-MOLECULE DETECTION BEYOND EARTH\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"ADVANCING NANOGAP TECHNOLOGY MINIATURIZATION AND AUTOMATION FOR SINGLE-MOLECULE DETECTION BEYOND EARTH"}],"uid":"27707","created_gmt":"2025-04-08 15:51:00","changed_gmt":"2025-04-08 15:52:07","author":"Tatianna Richardson","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2025-04-16T15:00:00-04:00","event_time_end":"2025-04-16T17:00:00-04:00","event_time_end_last":"2025-04-16T17:00:00-04:00","gmt_time_start":"2025-04-16 19:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2025-04-16 21:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2025-04-16 21:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"location":"Weber Space Science \u0026 Technology Building 304 Conf Room","extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"221981","name":"Graduate Studies"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"111531","name":"ms defense"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1788","name":"Other\/Miscellaneous"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78771","name":"Public"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}