GRAPHENE FOR BIOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS

Abstract

In this dissertation, I describe the use of large-scale graphene for biological applications. A novel transfer technique from growth substrate is demonstrated and analyzed by an automated visual inspection method. The graphene is transferred to different substrates, where the interaction with human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) is investigated. We find that the graphene can induce osteogenic differentiation of hMSC’s equivalent of the rate of biochemical inducer (BMP-2). By patterning the graphene into micrometer-sized stripes we can direct the alignment of the cells. We find the alignment to enhance the myogenic differentiation of the cells. A graphene-based strain sensor is created to analyze the interaction between cells and graphene in further details. The sensor is expanded to receive gesture based signaling as a novel human-computer interface.