Current Position:
Professor, Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University and Professor, Director, Institute of Analytical Chemistry, Chemo- and Biosensors, University of Regensburg
Institution:
Cornell University and University of Regensburg, Germany
Discipline:
Biomedical Engineering & Biotechnology
Recognized for: Developing sensors for the detection of pathogens in food or water and her work on a Gates Foundation initiative to create HIV/AIDS diagnostics that can be used in resource-limited countries
Areas of Research Interest and Expertise: Biological Engineering, Biosensors, Microfluidic Sensors, Clinical Diagnostics, Bioanalytical Chemistry
Biography:
PhD, Technical Biochemistry, University of Stuttgart, Germany
MS, Biotechnology, Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany
The research in Baeumner Lab focuses on the development of biosensors, lab-on-a-chip devices, nanomaterials and bioanalytical techniques for the detection of pathogenic organisms, toxins. The overarching goals are the investigation and development of novel strategies, materials and techniques that enable a highly sensitive detection without the need for specialized laboratories and well-trained personnel. These point-of-care and on-site applications are especially challenging as all steps from sample acquiration through signal read-out need to be considered. Here, on-site and on-chip sample preparation technologies are far less developed to-date than the sensing strategies themselves.
Dr. Baeumner and her team have developed sensors that integrate sample preparation and detection and have applied them to real-world samples including the detection of the protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium parvum, dengue virus, anthrax, E. coli, cholera toxin as well as several clinically relevant analytes.
Dr. Baeumner’s most recent research looks into various nanomaterials to assist in detection and sample preparation. She is looking at the nanofibers that have long been used in the textile industry as they are easily fabricated, yet offer a seemingly limitless amount of interesting surface chemistries. Her group is also investigating the development of nanomaterials for signal enhancement with the practical outcome of lowering the limits of detection and, hence, making point-of-care sensors also applicable to those analytes that are found in only excessively low concentrations in nature.
"We work at the interfaces of the chemical, molecular biological and engineering sciences with the main goal to develop new biosensor and biochip strategies that integrate nanomaterials and smartly engineered detectors with molecular (bio)chemical reactions for the detection of pathogens, toxins and clinically relevant analytes in food, the environment and in the medical setting."
Key Publications:
Other Honors:
1993 Reinhard Böhm Award
1994 Daimler-Benz Award
1997 Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst Fellowship
2001 Inaugural Award, Cornell College of Agricultural & Life Sciences
2002 Excellence in Teaching Award, Cornell College of Engineering
2006 Excellence in Teaching Award, Cornell College of Engineering
2007 Outstanding Teacher Award from Tau Beta Pi
2007 Humboldt Foundation Fellow
2010 Faculty Fellow, Undergraduate Information Competency
2010 Grocery Manufacturers Association Food Safety Award
2011 Excellence in Teaching Award, College of Engineering
2012 SUNY Chancellor Award for Excellence in Teaching