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Graphene biointerfaces and biomedical materials

How proteins, cells and tissues interact with graphene and graphene oxide, applied to cell arrays, regenerative hydrogels, nerve repair and low-cost biosensors.

Fluorescence images of regular arrays of protein spots printed on a graphene oxide coating, with bar charts comparing spot area and fluorescence on graphene oxide and on silanised glass, and a plot of spot height profiles.
Fibronectin spot arrays printed on graphene oxide coatings (A, B), and how spot size, fluorescence and droplet shape compare with silanised glass (C–F). Reproduced from R. Kumar, S. Llewellyn, S. K. Vasantham, K. Nie, S. Sekula-Neuner, A. Vijayaraghavan and M. Hirtz, Scientific Reports (2022), Fig. 2, doi:10.1038/s41598-022-06225-4, under CC BY 4.0; panels rearranged.

Graphene oxide coatings can be patterned with protein spots that capture cells one at a time: on fibronectin arrays printed onto graphene oxide, cells adhered better and single-cell occupancy was higher than on silanised glass, a simple route to cell arrays for screening.

With biomedical collaborators, the group studies graphene oxide in self-assembling peptide hydrogels for intervertebral disc repair, graphene oxide substrates that support Schwann-like stem cells for nerve regeneration, and a low-cost quartz-crystal-microbalance immunosensor with a graphene biointerface that measured a kidney-disease antibody in undiluted patient serum.

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Publications 22