ChE 2025 Fall Seminar Series

Details

Speaker: Jeffrey M. Halpern, Professor Department of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering and the Department of Chemistry, University of New Hampshire

Title: In Situ Surface Impedance Evaluation of Dynamic Polymer-Modified Surfaces

Abstract :The SEEDS (Surface Enhanced Electrochemical Diagnostic Sensors) laboratory is developing new sensor platforms for a range of applications including disease diagnosis and process analytical technology. Electrochemical biosensors are typically limited in selectivity or sensitivity due to inadequate surface interactions between the analyte and sensor. Our lab monitors surface interactions with Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS), a highly sensitive electrochemical technique used to passively monitor surface changes and interactions. Our lab also focuses on improving the stability, reproducibility, and reusability of sensors.
We have primarily been using EIS without redox mediators to evaluate dynamic changes of surface polymers over long periods of time. We will present the rationale of moving to non-redox mediated solutions, and our progress towards interpreting these signals.
We will present several test cases. One test case, we will look at the stability of self-assembled monolayers. Another test case, we will look at surface-bound elastin-like polymers as a stimuli biosensor. We will report our progress towards using these surface, reproducible modification protocols, and the electrochemical response of the stimulus behavior.
Finally, we will briefly discuss future directions of the SEEDS lab in an effort to discover new collaborations. New directions can include different uses of the above paradigms, and educational research ideas towards bettering neurodiverse undergraduate mentoring practices across neurodiversity and K-12 education.
This work is funded by NSF EPSCoR (2119237).

Bio: Prof. Jeffrey M. Halpern (he/him) earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering in 2010 at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Chemical Engineering. Halpern pursued a first postdoc (2011-2012) funded through an NIH NRSA fellowship at CWRU in Biomedical Engineering under the mentorship of Dr. Horst von Recum. He pursued a second postdoc through Fulbright and Lady Davis Fellowships (2013-2014) in Israel at the Technion in the Department of Chemical Engineering under the mentorship of Dr. Hossam Haick. Halpern joined the Department of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) in 2014, received Tenure in 2020, and was promoted to the rank of Professor in 2023. Halpern prides himself on his student mentoring; he has mentored a wide diversity of students including over 50 undergraduates and summer interns, 10 graduate students, and 3 post doctorates. As part of these efforts, he was recently awarded the UNH Innovator of the Year award in 2023, the inaugural UNH College of Engineering and Physical Sciences Outstanding Mentor Award, the Educator’s Award from LEAP for Education in 2019, and the Herb Epstein award for Technical Programing from AICHE in 2022. Halpern is heavily engaged with service by serving as Chair of the UNH Faculty Senate in 2024-2025, currently serves as member-at-large on the Executive Board of the Programming committee of American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and Vice Chair of the Organic and Biological Electrochemistry Division of the Electrochemical Society. Halpern currently leads an EPSCoR Track II team towards designing in-line protein sensors in biomanufacturing settings across NH, AL, ME, and WY (#2119237).
Group Website: https://sites.google.com/view/seedslab/