Welcome to the International Institute of Biosensing (IIB)

IIB aims to build a coordinated and collaborative national and international initiative that leverages and binds together experts from academia, nonprofits, industry, and government agencies to create a collective global effort to identify barriers to advancing biosensing research and generate more innovative solutions that will lead to better products and policies, while securing the future of our children and citizens.

Working in an interdisciplinary field, IIB facilitates thinking out of the box and working together with distinct professionals from different parts of the world, where every idea contributes to making something substantial.
We, therefore, sit at an important inflection point, where the IIB has an opportunity to become a leader in the BioSensing world through elevating our national and international profile while addressing societal needs and revolutionizing various disciplines including but not limited to healthcare, agriculture, environmental studies, and engineering. This will allow IIB to gain a competitive advantage to attract and retain faculty, students, and staff; to train the workforce of the future; and to ensure fair access and inclusion in the multidisciplinary world of Biosensing.

IIB Leaders and Core Members

Dr. Patricia Khashayar

Director of International Institute for Biosensing

Patricia Khashayar is a medical doctor by training. Her expertise in managing musculoskeletal patients garnered national and international recognition through various projects focused on bone health and osteoporosis.  A pivotal moment came with her Ph.D. in nanobiotechnology and biomedical engineering, igniting her passion for biosensors. Dr Khashayar has since led multiple H2020 European Projects, focusing on developing cutting-edge proteomic/genomic point-of-care tools for early disease detection, including osteoporosis, cervical cancer, and cardiovascular diseases. Her dedication to research has yielded numerous publications, patents, and a monograph. Leveraging her extensive experience in both medicine and engineering, as the Director of International Institute for Biosensing, she endeavors to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration, ultimately enhancing research outcomes.

"Empowering humanity through the fusion of technology and biology, we in IIB transcend boundaries to unlock the infinite possibilities of tomorrow's world." - Dr. Patricia Khashayar 

James (Jim) Wilgenbusch

Director of Research Computing in the Research & Innovation Office at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Jim Wilgenbusch is responsible for the strategic direction and leadership the institutes that are part of Research Computing. In this role he leads University-wide initiatives, partners with collegiate senior administrators and works with faculty and administrators to shape research computing at the University of Minnesota, ensures the excellence of existing activities, and facilitates the implementation of new programs.  Jim is also involved at a national level in the promotion and development of research cyberinfrastructure and plays a variety of roles in organizations such as the Coalition for Academic Scientific Computation (CASC), Campus Research Computing Consortium (CARCC), and the National Science Foundation’s Big Data Regional Innovation Hubs. Jim maintains research activities in the study and implementation of models, methods and software used in phylogenetic inference and for over 15 years has been an invited faculty member at workshops and seminars on this same topic.

Sang-Hyun Oh

McKnight University Professor, Sanford P. Bordeau Chair,, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Sang-Hyum Oh's research goals are to work at the interface between biology and technology, and to develop new tools for biomedical discovery process by using nanofabrication and photonics.

The Future of IIB

Exciting developments are underway at the International Institute of Biosensing (IIB) at the University of Minnesota! We're delighted to introduce Dr. Patricia Khashayar as the new director of IIB. With Dr. Khashayar at the helm, we are poised to lead the way in advancing biosensing research and revolutionizing the measurement of complex phenomena in our bodies and the world around us. 

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