Pol Van Dorpe

Imec Fellow
imec

​Pol Van Dorpe is currently an imec Fellow in the Life Science Technologies department at imec, where he leads a team working on photonic and nanopore technology for life science applications. He received his PhD at the faculty of engineering of the KU Leuven in 2006. Afterwards he was appointed as a postdoctoral fellow of the FWO-Flanders (2006-2012), based in Imec, and focused on metal based nanophotonics, or plasmonics for biosensors and energy harvesting. His work has led to over 150 peer-reviewed papers in high impact factor journals and has attracted more than 7000 citations. Since 2012 he also holds a position as part-time associate professor at the physics department of the KULeuven.

Speech title & Synopsis

Integration of biomolecular sensor technologies on a silicon platform

Shrinking optical & electrical components for smart biosensor and sequencing equipment

Reading of DNA, RNA or protein sequences, and detection of a broad range of target molecules often relies on optical-based techniques such as absorbance or fluorescence. Whereas large and bulky equipment was needed in the past, now it is possible to perform these techniques with miniaturized versions of optical components, such as lasers, waveguides, modulators, photodetectors, filters or ring resonators. 

Because of their small size and compatibility with semiconductor processes, these photonic components can be integrated with microfluidics and processing chips in complete sequencing solutions. Other advantages are: no mechanical parts or bulky optics required; improved sensitivity and robustness (no alignment or calibration needed); low cost at mass-scale production; low power consumption. Similarly, electronic devices now have approached the scale of relevant biomolecules. In this presentation we will review the capabilities of photonics & nanoelectronics for future diagnostic and “omic” solutions.

​
​​