The 20th of September 2024, Prof. Swaminathan Rajaraman, from the Materials Science & Engineering, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences and the Nanoscience Technology Center at University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA gave a wonderful seminar entitled: Acceleration of Biomedical Research with Micro/Nanoengineered Interfaces and Systems.

Abstract: The natural applicability of micro and nano-scale technologies in life sciences, agriculture and associated areas opens new avenues for powerful interdisciplinary collaborations between scientists, engineers, and medical professionals.

My research group works on the development of new micro/nanofabrication technologies and embedded biosystems technologies to address applications in several areas including: (1) Planar, 3D and High-Throughput Microelectrode Arrays (MEAs); (2) Plasmonic, micro- and nanoscale Interdigitated Electrodes (IDEs); (3) Microneedles for not only drug delivery into model plant and animal systems but also for functional monitoring; (4) Microfluidic devices to support Point-of-Use diagnostic systems and pico-scale mass sensing systems; (5) Embedded biosystems technologies for data manipulation from wearable and implantable sensors.

This talk will introduce established and ongoing efforts in Dr. Rajaraman’s lab in the space of these micro/nanoengineered areas that can help accelerate various types of biomedical research.

Bio: Swaminathan Rajaraman received his M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, Ohio, USA) and his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, Georgia, USA) respectively. Prof. Rajaraman is a tenured Professor and a successful entrepreneur. He is currently Associate Professor in the NanoScience Technology Center (NSTC) and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at University of Central Florida (Orlando, Florida, USA) with additional appointments in Electrical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering and Biomedical Sciences. Prior to his academic appointment, he has worked in the MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) industry with Analog Devices (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) and CardioMEMS (now Abbott Labs, Atlanta, Georgia, USA) and co-founded Axion BioSystems Inc. (Atlanta, Georgia, USA), a world-leader in high-throughput Microelectrode Arrays (MEAs) and MEA systems during and after his Ph.D. work. Axion was successfully acquired by the Swedish Private Equity Firm, Summa Equity in 2021. Axion spun out BioCircuit Technologies (Atlanta, Georgia, USA) in 2019 whose product NerveTape® is FDA-approved for sutureless nerve repair. Prof. Rajaraman has also co-founded Primordia BioSystems (Costa Mesa, California, USA) and serves on the Advisory Board of World Precision Instruments (Sarasota, Florida, USA).

His current research interests include in vitro and in vivo Microelectrode Arrays (MEAs), hybrid micro/nanofabrication, micro/nanofabrication on novel, biological substrates, microneedles, agricultural microsystems, microfluidic devices, multimodal cell-based nanosensors, 3D printing, embedded biosystems, and implantable MEMS devices. He also serves as the Deputy Director of the NSF I/UCRC, MIST Center at UCF. He has published more than 95 articles in peer-reviewed journals and conferences, holds close to 35 patents/applications, developed several MEA products that are in volume production and has mentored close to 65 graduate students, undergraduate students, engineers, and post-doctoral fellows. Dr. Rajaraman has served/serves on the Technical Program Committee (TPC) of IEEE Sensors, Hilton Head MEMS Workshop, IEEE Transducers, and IEEE MEMS. He was the Program Chair for Hilton Head MEMS Workshop in 2024 and is the General Chair for the Hilton Head MEMS Workshop in 2026. He additionally serves as an Associate Editor of IEEE JMEMS.