Deblina Sarkar facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Deblina Sarkar
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Sarkar in 2018
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| Born |
Kolkata, West Bengal, India
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| Known for | Ultra thin quantum mechanical transistor (ATLAS-TFET), nanoscale biosensors, expansion microscopy |
| Awards | 2018 MIT Technology Review's Top 10 Innovator Under 35 from India, 2016 CGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award in Mathematics, Physical Sciences, and Engineering, 2016 UCSB Winifred and Louis Lancaster Dissertation Award for Math, Physical Science and Engineering, 2008 U.S. Presidential Fellowship |
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| Institutions | MIT Media Lab |
| Thesis | 2D Steep Transistor Technology: Overcoming Fundamental Barriers in Low-Power Electronics and Ultra-Sensitive Biosensors (2015) |
| Doctoral advisor | Kaustav Banerjee |
Deblina Sarkar is an amazing Indian electrical engineer and inventor. She was born in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Today, she is a professor at the famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She also leads a special lab at the MIT Media Lab.
Dr. Sarkar is known around the world for inventing a super-thin, tiny transistor. This special device uses quantum mechanics and can be made very small. It's useful in tiny sensors that can detect biological things. In her lab at MIT, called the Nano Cybernetic Biotrek Lab, Dr. Sarkar and her team work on connecting tiny technology (nanotechnology) with living things (synthetic biology). They want to create new tiny devices and ways for machines to interact with living systems. This helps them understand and improve how our bodies work.
Contents
Deblina Sarkar's Journey
Early Life and School
Deblina Sarkar grew up in Kolkata, India. She studied electrical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad. During her studies, she focused on designing tiny devices and a field called spintronics. Her work was recognized internationally.
Before finishing her degree, she interned in Germany. She then moved to the United States. There, she earned her master's degree and a Ph.D. at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).
Learning About Nanoelectronics
At UCSB, Dr. Sarkar learned about nanoelectronics. Her mentor was Kaustav Banerjee. She found new ways to make tiny devices use less energy. She also created new biosensors using a special material called molybdenum disulfide (MoS2).
After getting her Ph.D. in 2015, she went to MIT. She worked with Edward Boyden to develop new ways to map and understand the brain.
Leading Her Own Lab
In 2020, Dr. Sarkar became a professor at MIT. She started her own research group, the Nano-Cybernetic Biotrek Lab. She explained that "nano" means they build tiny devices. "Cybernetic" means using technology to control systems. "Bio" means they work with biology. And "trek" means they are on a scientific adventure!
Amazing Inventions and Discoveries
Dr. Sarkar's research has led to many important inventions. She focuses on making technology smaller, more powerful, and better at interacting with living things.
Super-Thin Transistor
Dr. Sarkar invented a special quantum-mechanical transistor. It's called the ATLAS-TFET. This device is super thin and helps overcome heat problems in regular transistors. It uses a unique design with a special material called MoS2. This transistor can help make computers and other devices much smaller and more energy-efficient. Her work on this was even featured in the famous science magazine Nature.
Super-Sensitive Biosensors
Dr. Sarkar also created a new type of Field-effect transistor biosensor using MoS2. This sensor is incredibly sensitive. It can detect tiny molecules, even single ones! It's 74 times more sensitive than sensors made with graphene. These sensors could be used in wearable medical devices or quick tests at home. They can detect things much faster and with higher accuracy.
Understanding Graphene at High Speeds
Dr. Sarkar and her team studied how graphene behaves at very high frequencies. Graphene is a super-thin material. They found that graphene can be better than copper and carbon nanotubes for connecting parts in tiny circuits. This discovery is important for building future high-speed devices. It could lead to flexible computers and advanced prosthetic devices.
Mapping the Brain in Detail
Dr. Sarkar and her team developed a new tool called iterated direct expansion microscopy (idExM). Imagine you want to see tiny parts of the brain, like the connections between brain cells (synapses). These parts are packed very tightly. Regular microscopes can't see them clearly.
Their new tool works by making brain tissue expand. They put the tissue in a special gel and use forces to make it grow almost 100 times bigger! This allows scientists to see tiny structures in amazing detail. Using this, they have seen how brain cells connect. They have also studied tiny clumps linked to Alzheimer's disease.
Awards and Recognitions
Dr. Sarkar has received many awards for her groundbreaking work. Here are some of them:
- Distinguished Scientist Award (2023)
- Science News 10 Scientists to Watch (2023)
- MIND Prize (Maximizing Innovation in Neuroscience Discovery) (2023)
- NIH Directors New Innovator Award (2022)
- IEEE Nanotechnology Early Career Award (2022)
- Young Scientist Excellence Award at Microsystems and Nanoengineering (Nature) (2020)
- Technology Review's Innovators Under Age 35 (one of 10 from India) (2018)
- One of the top 3 dissertations throughout USA and Canada in her field (2016)
- US Presidential Fellowship for graduate research (2008)
Selected Publications
Dr. Sarkar has published many important research papers. Here are a few examples:
- Iterative Direct Expansion Microscopy. D. Sarkar, A. Wassie, J. Kang, T. Tarr, A. Tang, T. A. Blanpied, E. S. Boyden. Society for Neuroscience, 2019.
- A Subthermionic Tunnel Field-Effect Transistor with an Atomically Thin Channel. Deblina Sarkar, Xuejun Xie, Wei Liu, Wei Cao, Jiahao Kang, Yongji Gong, Stephan Kraemer, Pulickel M. Ajayan and Kaustav Banerjee. Nature (journal), Vol. 526, pp. 91–95, 2015.
- MoS2 Field-Effect Transistor for Next-Generation Label-Free Biosensors. Deblina Sarkar, Wei Liu, Xuejun Xie, Aaron Anselmo, Samir Mitragotri and Kaustav Banerjee. ACS Nano, Vol. 8, No. 4, pp. 3992–4003, 2014.
- Proposal for Tunnel-Field-Effect-Transistor as Ultra-Sensitive and Label-Free Biosensors. Deblina Sarkar and Kaustav Banerjee. Applied Physics Letters, 100, No. 14, 143108, 2012.
See also
- In Spanish: Deblina Sarkar para niños
