Ph.D.
Nguyen Dang Tung
Director of Career Service and Industry, College of Computer Science and Engineering, VinUniversity, Gia-Lam, Hanoi
Title: Advancements in Organic Electronics for Early Diagnostics: Advantages and Sensing Applications
Abstract:
Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) have emerged as a transformative platform for early diagnostics and bioelectronics due to their exceptional advantages, including high sensitivity, biocompatibility, and low-voltage operation in aqueous environments. Unlike traditional electronics, OECTs can seamlessly transduce ionic biological signals into electronic signals, making them highly effective for biological interfaces. Recent advancements in OECT materials, such as the use of accumulation-mode conjugated polyelectrolytes, enable low power consumption, while the integration of biomaterial-based solid electrolytes (such as food-grade gelatin and glycerol) allows for stable, flexible, and wearable device architectures. Furthermore, new scalable and cost-effective fabrication techniques, such as wet chemical processing and printed circuit board (PCB) integration, bypass the need for expensive cleanroom microfabrication, making these diagnostic tools highly accessible for low-resource settings.
In this talk, I will highlight a wide array of detection and diagnostic applications utilizing OECTs. In the realm of clinical and wearable diagnostics, OECTs have been employed for non-invasive cortisol and saliva monitoring, cell-based impedance sensing, and the detection of glucose, lactate, and label-free DNA. For rapid pandemic response, OECTs have demonstrated single-molecule resolution screening for viral antigens such as COVID-19 directly from human saliva and serum. In electrophysiology, highly sensitive OECTs can amplify biological signals for human electroencephalography and in vivo brain activity monitoring.
Additionally, our lab demonstrates the direct detection of specific redox-active biomarkers and environmental hazards. For instance, OECTs have been successfully engineered to detect methylene blue, a critical redox reporter used extensively in biodetection, immunoassays, and bacterial growth monitoring, achieving an ultra-low detection limit of 10 mM. Beyond human health, scalable PCB-based OECTs have been utilized for environmental surveillance, proving highly effective for the sensitive detection of ferrocyanide ions in water. Overall, the combination of high transconductance, scalable manufacturing, and versatile target detection establishes organic electronics as a powerful, cost-effective, and accessible technology for the future of early diagnostics.
Biography of the presenting author
Dr. Nguyen Dang Tung is an Assistant Professor at the College of Engineering and Computer Science at VinUniversity and serves as the Director of Career Service and Industry for the College. Since joining the university in August 2023, he has led the Integrated Electronics group (https://www.intorlab.com.vn), which develops devices and manufacturing technologies using organic materials to address environmental and societal challenges. Currently, the group focuses on developing multifunctional fibers and organic electrochemical devices. Notably, the group established the first thermal drawing tower for research in Vietnam and is pioneering the use of AI for materials research. Prior to VinUniversity, Dr. Nguyen-Dang studied and worked at Ecole Polytechnique of Paris (B.A. and M.Sc. in Materials Science), EPFL (PhD, Materials Science), Saint-Gobain Company (Research Engineer) and UCSB (in CPOS). His major scientific contributions include a method for creating micro- and nano-patterns on fibers and textiles, a framework for the conservation of shape during the design of functional fibers (at EPFL), and the development of the first dual-mode organic transistors—realized 50 years after the invention of their inorganic counterparts (at UCSB). For his research, Dr. Nguyen-Dang has received E-MRS Student Award (France), SNSF Fellowship (Switzerland) and Otis Williams Fellowship (U.S.A.)
Presenting author details
Full name: Nguyễn-Đăng Tùng
Contact number: +84(0)965507233
Email: tung.nd2@vinuni.edu.vn
LinkedIn: /in/nguyen-dang-tung
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3OEhjvkAAAAJ
Website: https://www.intorlab.com.vn
Session name/ number: 1 Early Diagnostic
Category: Oral Presentation