Onur Parlak

About me

I am currently Wallenberg Research Fellow at Karolinska Institute, Department of Neuroscience, Sweden. Previously, I was a postdoc at Stanford University, Materials Science and Engineering, working in Prof. Alberto Salleo Lab. I received my PhD degree in Bioelectronics from Linköping University, Biosensors and Bioelectronics Centre, Sweden in September 2015. Earlier, I was visiting research intern at Nanyang Technological University, Materials Science and Engineering Department, Biomimetic Sensor Science, Singapore in 2011. I received my master and bachelor degree from Izmir Institute of Technology, Department of Chemistry in 2011 and 2009, respectively. My research focuses on interfacing biological materials with electronics, waerable/printed bioelectronics and electromicrobiology. 

Research description

Wearable Bioelectronics

One of the most important and recent trends in biosensor technology is continuous monitoring of metabolite using wearable biosensors. In parallel to the advancement in wearable electronics, wearable sensor-based systems for healthcare applications have attracted a significant interest both in industrial and academic research. Wearable biosensor applications aim to change centralised hospital-based care system to home-based personal medicine and reduce healthcare cost and time for diagnosis. Electrochemical transducers offer many advantages for wearable sensors for physiological monitoring, and can be easily integrated onto textile materials or directly on the skin.

These efforts have resulted in successful wearable physical sensors, such as temperature and pressure, for monitoring biophysical signals including heart rate, respiration rate, skin temperature, and brain activity. However, these physical sensors require external complementary measures to diagnose diseases precisely. On the other hand, wearable biosensors are able to give direct information about specific disease biomarkers and metabolite changes in bodily fluids. Our research focus is to develop wearable biosensing devices for specific disease biomarkers for continuous health monitoring. 

Interfacing Materials for Bioelectronics

The integration of nanomaterials as a bridge between the biological and electronic worlds has revolutionised understanding of how to generate functional bioelectronic devices and has opened up new horizons for the future of bioelectronics. The use of nanomaterials as a versatile interface in the area of bioelectronics offers many practical solutions and has recently emerged as a highly promising route to overcome technical challenges in the control and regulation of communication between biological and electronics systems. Hence, the interfacing of nanomaterials is yielding a broad platform of functional units for bioelectronic interfaces and is beginning to have a significant impact on many fields within the life sciences.

Teaching portfolio

2012-2016, Teaching assistant in Biosensor Technology (graduate)” and “Introduction of Biosensor Technology (undergraduate)” courses, Linköping University, Sweden. 

2011-2012, Teaching assistant “Introduction of Material Science and Technology” undergraduate course, Izmir University of Economics, Turkey.

Education

October 2018 – current, Wallenberg Research Fellow, Neuroscience Department, Karolinska Institute, Sweden

2016 – 2018, Postdoctoral Researcher, Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, USA

2012 – 2015, PhD in Bioelectronics, Biosensors and Bioelectronics Centre, Linköping University, Sweden

2005 – 2011, BSc. & MSc. in Chemistry, Izmir Institute of Technology, Department of Chemistry, Turkey

Academic honours, awards and prizes

2015, Wallenberg Research Fellow

2011, Research Internship, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore