Biosensing, Biophotonics and Electronics

Catching up With the Şeker Lab: Serendipity and Collaboration

Erkin Şeker, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, and his team have adapted a pre-Columbian era jewelry making process to create the nanoporous gold they use for biomedical applications. “Depletion gilding [purifying gold by removing other elements] would start with an alloy of copper and gold called tumbaga. Artisans would use a chemical reaction to remove the copper and leave behind the gold, which gives the golden finish to the artifacts.