Molecular Biology and Genetics Seminars: Asst. Prof. Levent Beker
Asst. Prof. Levent Beker from Koç University will be the next guest of the seminar series organized by KHAS Molecular Biology and Genetics Department with his speech “Wearable and Implantable Devices for Continuum Healthcare” on Thursday, April 27 at 16:00 on Zoom.
Zoom ID: 890 6927 6644
Abstract: Implantable medical devices and the concept of integrating sensors/electronics into the human body have been intriguing curiosities especially in medicine for many decades. Recent developments in microfabrication and materials science finally have enabled development of sub-mm-sized implants for monitoring of critical parameters such as blood pressure for heart arrhythmia, pH for GI tract complications, and neural activity for prosthetic applications. However, such devices have energy related problems so that patients need to go through a risky surgery for battery replacement periodically. This talk will cover potential approaches to eliminate this problem and realize next-generation transient/self-powered implants by utilizing bio-resorbable materials or energy harvesting microsystems.
In the first part of the seminar, a bio-resorbable fabrication process and a battery-free implant for wireless artery pulse monitoring will be presented. Design and fabrication of the proposed implant will be detailed by emphasizing particular diseases and surgical operations that require short-term vascular monitoring. Then, the focus will be on energy harvesting implants which can generate electrical energy within the human body for long-term implants. Widely used neural and cochlear implants increase the quality of life of patients considerably by giving them the ability to move freely and hear. However, because of their power requirement, neural implant users must undergo surgery every 2-3 years just for battery replacement, and cochlear implant users need to change battery at least twice a day. Implantable micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) energy harvesters can help to reduce or eliminate the battery replacement problem. In the second part of the seminar, various other wearable devices including sweat and contact lens based sensors for glucose monitoring will be introduced.
About the Speaker: Levent Beker got undergrad and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering and micro-nano technology from the Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara, Turkey. For his master’s work on micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) cochlear implants, he received several awards including the outstanding paper award at Transducers’13 and the best thesis award from METU.
Then, he got his PhD in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, U.S. (advisors: Prof. Liwei Lin, Prof. Al Pisano). During graduate work he was a researcher at Berkeley Sensor Actuator Center (BSAC), where he mainly worked on piezoelectric MEMS, their applications to implantable medical devices (neural implants), and harsh environment (silicon carbide-based) sensors supported by Sandia National Labs. His collaborative PhD work together with UCSF neurosurgeons received the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) International Students Fellowship. During PhD, he also worked as a research associate at Oculus VR/Facebook. In 2017, he joined Prof. Zhenan Bao’s group at Stanford University where he worked on bioresorbable wireless implants and electronic skin components for two years. Afterwards, he gained some industrial experience at TDK InvenSense (San Jose, CA) within the MEMS motion sensors team. In September 2019, Dr. Beker joined Koç University as an assistant professor and established the Bio-integrated microdevices laboratory. He received ERC Starting Grant in 2022, TUBITAK 2232 Fellowship in 2020 and Marie Curie Fellowship in 2019. He currently works on implantable and wearable medical devices using