IM/DD and Coherent Optical Fiber Transmission Systems: Challenges and Opportunities
by David Plant, McGill University, Canada.
Cells, paper and electrodes: building smart paper chips for bioanalysis
by Raphaël Trouillon, Polytechnique Montréal, Canada.
Title: IM/DD and Coherent Optical Fiber Transmission Systems: Challenges and Opportunities
Speaker: David Plant, McGill University, Canada.
— Abstract — The insatiable growth of datacenter traffic mandates increasing the capacity of cost-effective transceiver technologies to meet the foreseen demand. Competing configurations include IM/DD and coherent transceiver architectures. In this presentation we will discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with these two options including such topics as: wavelength, reach modulation format, modulator technology, and power consumption.
— Bio — David V. Plant has been a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, since 1993 where he currently holds a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Optical Fiber Communications Systems. He received his Ph.D. from Brown University, and he was at UCLA as a Post-Doc before joining McGill University. He was a Killam Research Fellow and Received the IEEE Photonics Society Engineering Achievement Award. He is a fellow of Optica, EIC, CAE, IEEE, and the RSC.
Title: Cells, paper and electrodes: building smart paper chips for bioanalysis
Speaker: Raphaël Trouillon, Polytechnique Montréal, Canada.
— Abstract — The chemistry of living systems is notoriously complex, but yet critical to our understanding to the mechanisms of biology and pathology. New, user-friendly and quantitative chemical methods for bioanalysis are therefore needed. In this context, paper appears as a promising material. This substrate is already used in biosystems, and recent advances in printed electronics, conducting polymers, etc. pave the way towards more sophisticated, smart paper biochips. In this talk, I will present our recent work on paper electrochemical sensors for biomolecules (e.g. neurotransmitters). Different designs will be presented, with a focus on improving the quality of the electrochemical measurements. Furthermore, cells were cultured on these paper chips, and their chemistry (here the secretion of dopamine) was studied, as well as the impact of different drugs. Overall, these results support the use of paper for biochips combining cell culture, sample handling and analysis in an affordable, user-friendly package, while providing access to hard to obtain quantitative data.
— Bio — Raphaël Trouillon is a graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique (France) and holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Imperial College London. After research positions at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden), EPFL (Switzerland) and CEA (France), he joined Polytechnique Montréal in January 2021, as an assistant professor. He is an Editor of the publication Measurement (Elsevier) and has published 44 articles in peer-reviewed journals (H-index 24). His research interests focus on the biological applications of electroanalysis and the development of analytical biochips.
