Dr. Clarice Aiello, Stanford University

"From nanotech to living sensors: unraveling the spin physics of biosensing at the nanoscale"

I am a quantum engineer interested in how quantum physics informs biology at the nanoscale.

Abstract: As a physicist, I have developed high-performance nanosensors that essentially worked due to room-temperature quantum effects in noisy environments. Currently, I am focusing on “living sensors” -- organisms and cells that respond to minute stimuli, routinely outperforming technological probes in awe-inspiring ways. Unveiling and controlling the underlying physical mechanisms employed by “living sensors” impact: the engineering of ultrasensitive, bio-inspired electromagnetic probes; the elucidation of mesmerizing natural feats such as animal navigation; and the advancement of therapeutics for metabolic-related diseases.

Substantial in vitro and physiological experimental results are consistent with the fact that similar spin physics might underlie biosensing modalities as varied as organismal magnetic field detection and metabolic regulation of oxidative stress in cells.

Can spin physics be established -- or refuted! -- to account for physiologically relevant biosensing phenomena, and be manipulated to technological and therapeutical advantage? This is the broad, exciting question that I wish to address in my scientific career.