MCD-UIUC-ABE

Dr. Mary-Grace C. Danao, Assistant Professor

Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering § University of Illinois

376B Agricultural Engineering Sciences Building, MC-644

1304 West Pennsylvania Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801

Phone 217.244.3925 § Fax 217.244.0323 § E-mail gdanao@uiuc.edu

Hello! My name is Grace Danao and I am a new faculty member at the University of Illinois. I joined the ABE Department in December 2006 as an adjunct and became a full time assistant professor in August 2007. I won’t bore you with the details of my Dickensonian tale — other than I was born in the Philippines, I call Florida my home base, and I bleed orange and blue.

Research

The overall objective of my research program is to train M.Sc. and Ph.D. students in the Biological Engineering area through the development of new sensing technologies for monitoring the health and safety of animals, food systems, and the environment. Aside from developing sensors, I am also interested in projects involving enzyme stabilization.

Currently, we are working on designing better sampling and sensing systems for breath monitoring across a range of conditions. Our approach is to take advantage of the recent developments in the microfabrication and integration

integration of biosensors (optical, electrochemical, etc.) into arrays capable of specific detection of multiple analytes. The availability of miniature optical components and handheld multipotentiostats allow us to design and fabricate a well-matched and -calibrated biosensor array that, with appropriate sampling technologies, will provide adequate accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity for suitably chosen analytes. This approach can be extended towards other applications, such as detecting trace volatile compounds resulting from microbial activity in air, soil, water, crops, and food samples and determining food quality and safety during storage and transport.

A second area of research interest involves using ultrasonic standing wave fields (USWFs) to manipulate and separate micron-sized particles suspended in a fluid medium into confined regions (i.e., the nodes of the standing wave field) to enhance the optical detection and quantification of the particles. Ultrasonic concentration is an attractive technique for this purpose because it offers separation without the use of a physical barrier (e.g., a filter); offers the potential of requiring little maintenance; is adaptable for the development of an in-line, continuous system; is controllable via ultrasonic frequency and amplitude modulation; and can provide rapid separation within milliseconds.

Finally, we are exploring the use of ionic liquids in gas-phase sensing and biocatalysis. Ionic liquids are a new class of purely ionic, salt-like materials that are liquid at room temperature. Ionic liquids exhibit unique properties, such as nonvolatility, nonflammability, and excellent chemical and thermal stability, that have made them an environmentally attractive alternative to conventional organic solvents. There is great potential in exploiting these unique properties in various applications, such as biocatalysis, biosensors and diagnostics, biomass processing, protein stabilization, and extraction and purification of natural products.

Key words: biosensor technology, optical sensing, ultrasound, enzyme stabilization, biocatalysis

So, who’s “we” exactly? My group in 2007-2008 consists of Angela Hsieh, Wiktor Stopka, and Daria Zelasko.

Teaching

§ ABE 100. Introduction to Agricultural and Biological Engineering (co-taught with Dr. Bode), Fall 2007

§ ABE 199. Undergraduate Open Seminar: Introduction to Engineering Biological Systems, Spring 2008

Advising

§ UIUC General Education Requirements

§ COE Advising Information (curricula, course info & schedule, transfer info, activities, etc.)

§ James Scholars Program — COE and ACES

§ Course Applicability System — www.transfer.org

Publications & Presentations

Peer-reviewed

Danao, MC, Payne, FA, Mengüç, MP, Hicks, CL, Nokes, SE, Stombaugh, T. Ultrasonic concentration of micron-sized particles and bacterial cells in water using a 975-kHz ultrasonic standing wave field. Ultrasonics. (Submitted, in review)

Danao, MC, Payne, FA, Mengüç, MP, Hicks, CL, Nokes, SE, Stombaugh, T. Design and testing of a cylindrical ultrasonic concentrator. Ultrasonics. (Submitted, in review)

Qing, D, Mengüç, MP, Payne, FA, Danao, MC. 2003. Convective-diffusion based fluorescence correlation spectroscopy for detection of trace amount of Escherichia coli in water. Applied Optics. 42(16):2987-2994.

Danao, MC and Payne, FA. 2002. Determining product transitions in a liquid piping system using a transmission sensor. Transactions of the ASAE. 46(2): 415-421.

Patent

Payne, FA and Danao, MC. Method for the detection of product transitions in liquid piping systems. US Patent No. 6,970,248 B1. November 2005.

Conference Presentations, 2002-present (*indicates presenter)

Danao, MC*, Cullen, DC, Turner, C, Mottram, TT. Direct detection and monitoring of ethanol in artificial breath samples using an alcohol oxidase-based electrochemical biosensor. Poster presentation. ASABE Annual International Meeting. 17-20 June 2007. Minneapolis, MN, USA.

Danao, MC*, Cullen, DC, Turner, C, Mottram, TT. Development of a breath output simulator for breath analysis research. Poster presentation. ASABE Annual International Meeting. 17-20 June 2007. Minneapolis, MN, USA.

Danao, MC*, Cullen, DC, Turner, C, Mottram, TT. Electrochemical sensing of ethanol in artificial breath samples. Lecture presentation. Biological Sensorics: Critical Technologies for Future Biosystems. 15-17 June 2007. Minneapolis, MN, USA.

Danao, MC*, Cullen, DC, Mottram, TT, Turner C. Development of a biosensor for breath analysis and monitoring applications. Poster presentation. ASABE Annual International Meeting. 9-12 July 2006. Portland, OR, USA.

Payne, FA*, Chandler, G, Castillo, M, Danao, MC. Intelligent optical sensor for in-line food processing applications. Lecture presentation. ASABE Annual International Meetingn. 9-12 July 2006. Portland, OR, USA.

Danao, MC, Payne, FA*, Mengüç, MP, Hicks, CL, Nokes, SE, Stombaugh, T. Enhanced real-time optical detection of micron-sized particles in water using standing ultrasonic wave fields. Poster presentation. Optics East. 23-26 October 2005. Boston, MA, USA.

Danao, MC* and Payne, FA. Enhanced optical detection of bacterial cells in water using standing acoustic wave fields. Lecture presentation. ASABE Annual International Meeting. 17-20 July 2005. Tampa, FL, USA.

Danao, MC* and Payne, FA. Separation of microparticles in liquid foods using standing acoustic waves. Lecture presentation. ASABE Annual International Meeting. 17-20 July 2005. Tampa, FL, USA.

Payne, FA*, Danao, MC, Castillo, M. Light backscatter extinction measurements for predicting fat and protein content of milk. Lecture presentation. ASABE Annual International Meeting. 17-20 July 2005. Tampa, FL, USA.

Danao, MC* and Payne, FA. Detecting low concentrations of microbial cells using light scatter measurements. Lecture presentation. ASAE/CSAE Annual International Meeting. 1-4 August 2004. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Payne, FA* and Danao, MC. Measuring particulate concentration with a fiber optic light extinction sensor. Poster presentation. International Congress on Engineering and Food (ICEF 9). 7-11 March 2004. Montpellier, France.

Payne, FA* and Danao, MC. Application of an optical milk fat sensor to dairy processes. Lecture presentation. ASAE Annual International Meeting. 27-31 July 2003. Las Vegas, NV, USA.

Danao, MC* and Payne, FA. Development of an optical sensor system for the measurement of microbial concentration in water. Poster presentation. ASAE Annual International Meeting. 27-31 July 2003. Las Vegas, NV, USA.

Qing, D, Mengüç, MP*, Payne, FA, and Danao, MC. Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy for detection of trace amount of biological agents. ASME-IMECE Conference. November 2002. New Orleans, LA, USA.

Danao, MC* and Payne, FA. Determining product transitions in a liquid piping system using a transmission sensor. Lecture presentation. ASAE Annual International meeting. 28-31 July 2002. Chicago, IL, USA.

Professional Activities

Agricultural and Biological Engineering

§ Advisor for ABE Freshman Class - Fall 2007

UI College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES)

UI College of Engineering (COE)

American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE)

§ Membership Development Council, Member, 2006-2008

§ BE-21 Applications in Biological Engineering Committee, Member, 2007-2009; Vice-Chair, 2007-2008

§ BE-23 Biosensors Committee, Member, 2005-2008; Secretary, 2007-2008

§ ED-416 Continuing Professional Development Committee, Member, 2005-2008

§ FPE-703 Food Processing Committee, Member, 2002-2010; Secretary, 2007-2008

§ M-102 Awards Coordinating Committee, Member, 2007-2009