Redox: Electron-Based Approach to Bio-Device Molecular Communication

Abstract

Molecular communication offers an exciting vision, but realizing this vision will require a bridging of device-based electromagnetic modalities and biology's molecular modalities. We are exploring redox (reduction-oxidation) reactions as a means to span these modalities. Here we use the example of the biological material melanin to illustrate how electrical signals can be used to probe for important redox-based molecular information. However, redox-probing is not limited to abiotic materials, but can be extended to probing living systems. We envision that the coupling of redox-probing with synthetic biology will allow the information processing capabilities of biology to be integrated with the speed and power of microelectronics to help realize the molecular communication vision.