Jeff Zahn
Professor Jeff Zahn recently joined the bioengineering faculty and brings new perspectives in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) to Penn State. Professor Zahn's vision is to develop a personal drug delivery system that is the size of a credit card and can be attached to a patient's arm. His research focuses on building microfluidic systems and miniature needles for drug delivery. Microneedles have been integrated into a silicon substrate, which has pumps, valves, mixing chambers, and sensors. The system will sample biological fluids, analyze the fluid, perform self-cleaning and calibration and then deliver drugs in response to the blood analysis. Presently, he has demonstrated continuous fluid delivery through a microneedle for six hours, which represents a major breakthrough in the design and fabrication of integrated micorfluidic components.
More recently Dr. Zahn is exploring low cost alternatives to silicon technology and has been fabricating device structures from polymers. Polymers promise to be less expensive for MEMS application than silicon. In addition, different polymers may have specific properties (biocompatability, anti-fouling, etc.) which make them more attractive materials than silicon for biological interactions. His lab includes standard photolithographic and etch tools for fabricating bioMEMS devices from a variety of materials. The use of novel fabrication methods, such as direct etch approaches and photosensitizing polymer films to allow lithographic patterning allows polymer devices to be built on top of any electronics.
Professor Zahn will be offering a new course this Fall, Bioengineering 597 which will cover bioMEMS, bionanotechnology and microfluidics.
