Research

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Cell Clinics | Adaptive Circuits | Information and Power Efficiency | Imaging

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Cell Clinics

IBIS is developing technology to enable the hybrid integration of biological cells into microelectronic systems. In collaboration with Dr. Elisabeth Smela, we are creating an integrated bioelectronic and biophotonic platform for capturing and characterizing small groups of living biological cells. Each of these cell clinics is an integrated micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) which consists of a cell-sized well with an actuated lid and circuitry for sensing, signal-processing, and actuation. Cell clinics provide an opportunity to characterize many individual cells in parallel, in contrast with traditional techniques which characterize average properties of an ensemble of cells. (More)

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Adaptive Circuits

IBIS specializes in introducing adaptation into integrated circuits and systems in order to overcome performance limitations due to variability in hardware (i.e., transistor mismatch) and task requirements (i.e., changes in the signals or environment). These adaptive circuits generally exhibit special features in addition to improved performance. Some of our novel circuit designs include an image sensor that memorizes previously captured scenes; a high-performance analog-to-digital converter that adapts to the incoming analog signal distribution and performs an efficient signal conversion that minimizes distortion and maximizes output entropy; an adaptive comparator that can store an accurate arbitrary offset; and an analog adaptive filter that adjusts gain and bandwidth to track a reference signal. (More)

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Information and Power Efficiency

Much of the labs work is focused on sensor design, specifically low power circuits for biosensor design and circuits which emulate biological principles and functions. We are exploring the information-power efficiency of these circuits and are developing techniques for improved design methodologies to optimize the tradeoffs between performance and costs. At the same time, we are investigating the fundamental limits of analog and mixed-signal computation for sensing, characterizing, and decoding biological signals.

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Imaging

Vision is an example of a sensing modality that is easily implemented using integrated circuits. IBIS is developing optical image sensors and techniques for low cost, high throughput, and high sensitivity biosensor systems that exploit fundamental physical phenomena. The image sensors being developed in the IBIS lab represent several research areas including: contact imaging, fluorescence detection, adaptive imaging, and more generally biologically inspired imagers.