Award for research on diamond for biology

The team at the Institute of Physics was awarded the 1st place at the international conference Nanocon 2014 for the best poster on the topic 3D Diamond Membranes for Microfluidic Systems. The competition included about 250 posters from the Czech Republic and abroad. The awarded poster was presented by Dr. Alexander Kromka from the Laboratory of diamond and carbon nanostructures. The presented work showed how to create self-standing diamond membranes with microscopic openings for permeation of molecules in solutions. These membranes then act as structural and chemical support for cell growth and due to semiconducting properties of diamond they enable active electronic detection of cell culture condition in microfluidic perfusion reactors. This is one of the fundamental approaches for biological research under in-vivo-like conditions where animal experiments can be avoided. The results were achieved based on long-term research of technology, properties and applications of diamond materials for biology and medicine in the framework of the research center CABIOM and with significant financial support from GACR project Bioscaf. Successful research in this field is documented also by the invited talk of doc. Bohuslav Rezek from Laboratory of functional nano-interfaces about Nanocrystalline diamond films in electronics, chemistry and biology, which gained a number of positive responses from the conference participants and organizers.