Bernie Kraatz

Research Interests
Bioinorganic and Biological Chemistry, Electrochemistry, Bioanalytical Chemistry, & Water Contamination.
Our group's research focuses on the design of useful biomaterials and nano-biomaterials. These biomaterials are synthesized in our lab from simple building blocks, including amino acids, nucleotides, and peptide nucleic acids, and are generally conjugated to probe molecules that enable us to monitor the properties of these materials by spectroscopic or electrochemical techniques. We have significant expertise in modifying surfaces with our bioconjugates in an effort to obtain functional devices. Gold surfaces are particularly useful in this regard and can be readily patterned to create electrochemical sensor microarrays.
In our research, we have three major objectives:
- the development of biosensors (protein, DNA, and chemical detection)
- the development of nano-structured peptide materials and new peptide devices
- the discovery of new organometallic bioconjugates
Awards and Grants
- Fellow of The Royal Society of Canada (2019)
- UTSC Principal’s Research Award (2015)
- Visiting Professor, University of Bochum, Germany (2010)
- Faculty Scholar, UWO (2010)
- Distinguished Research Professor, UWO (2010)
- Florence Bucke Science Prize, UWO (2009)
- Guest Professor at Central South University, Changsha, China (2006)
- CSC Award for Pure or Applied Inorganic Chemistry (2006)
- Senior Gledden Fellowship, U Western Australia (2004)
- Canada Research Chair in Biomaterials (2002)
- PetroCanada Young Innovator Award (2001)
- CNC/IUPAC Travel Award (2000)
Publications
- D Escher, MN Hossain, HB Kraatz, J Müller (2021) Metal-dependent electrochemical discrimination of DNA quadruplex sequences JBIC Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, 1-8
- S Yin, Y Li, MN Hossain, C Sun, HB Kraatz (2021) Electrochemical detection of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 using an oligonucleotide aptasensor Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical 340, 129945
- M Abdinejad, C Dao, X Zhang, HB Kraatz (2021) Enhanced electrocatalytic activity of iron amino porphyrins using a flow cell for reduction of CO2 to CO Journal of Energy Chemistry 58, 162-169
- AM Downs, J Gerson, MN Hossain, K Ploense, M Pham, HB Kraatz, ...(2021) Nanoporous Gold for the Miniaturization of In Vivo Electrochemical Aptamer-Based Sensors ACS sensors
- X Gu, K Wang, J Qiu, Y Wang, S Tian, Z He, R Zong, HB Kraatz (2021) Enhanced electrochemical and SERS signals by self-assembled gold microelectrode arrays: A dual readout platform for multiplex immumoassay of tumor biomarkers Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical 334, 129674
- X Li, N Falcone, MN Hossain, HB Kraatz, X Chen, H Huang (2021) Development of a novel label-free impedimetric electrochemical sensor based on hydrogel/chitosan for the detection of ochratoxin A Talanta 226, 122183
For more publications see: Google Scholar at http://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=vtD_a3cAAAAJ&hl=en