Ester Segal, Professor

Research Interests:

Porous silicon, hybrid nanomaterials, optical biosensors, drug delivery.

Short Synopsis:

The research of my group lies at the broad interface between nanomaterials science and biotechnology. My research includes the basic study of structure-property relationships of nanomaterials and application of this knowledge in development of functional materials systems. We are interested in nanostructured materials (such as porous Si and inorganic nanowires) and their interface with soft matter e.g. hydrogels, biomolecules, and living cells. Understanding these interfaces allows us to rationally design biosensors for detection of biological and chemical toxins, new drug delivery platforms, and functional responsive materials.
Collaborators:
Dr. Ljiljana Fruk (Centre for functional Nanostructures at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany)
Prof. Amir Sa’ar (The Racah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem)
Dr. Orit Shefi (Bioengineering, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan)

 

• Massad N., Shtenberg G., Tzur A., Krepker M., Segal E., Engineering Nanostructured Porous SiO2 Surfaces for Bacteria Detection via “Direct-Cell-Capture”, Anal. Chem., 83, 3282–3289 (2011).
• Bonanno L.M and Segal E., Nanostructured Porous Silicon-Polymer Based Hybrids: From Biosensing to Drug Delivery, Nanomedicine, 6(10), 1755-1770 (2011).
• Massad-Ivanir N., Friedman T., Nahor A., Eichler S., Bonanno L.M., Sa’ar A., Segal E., Hydrogels Synthesized in Electrochemically-Machined Porous Si Hosts: Effect of Nano-Scale Confinement on Polymer Properties, Soft Matter, 8 (35), 9166 – 9176 (2012).
• Tzur Balter A., Gilert A., Massad-Ivanir N., Segal E., Engineering Porous Silicon Nanostructures as Tunable Carriers for Mitoxantrone Dihydrochloride, ACTA Biomaterialia, 9, 6208-6217 (2013).
• Shtenberg G., Massad-Ivanir N., Moscovitz O., Engin S., Sharon M., Fruk L., Segal E., Biosensing Platform Based on Nanostructured Porous Si and Directed/Reversible Enzyme Immobilization, Anal. Chem., 85 (3) (2013).