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Department of Electrical Engineering

David A. Borkholder, PhD
Associate Professor Electrical Engineering
Associate Professor Microsystems Engineering

Dr. Borkholder is a Microsystems expert with research interests including biosensors, biomedical MEMs, medical devices, the auditory system, and treatment of auditory dysfunction.  His laboratory focuses on therapy directed Microsystems and sensors validated through animal studies and targeted at clinical use.  He is currently developing Implantable Microsystems for intra-cochlear drug delivery as part of a five year, NIH funded deafness therapy research collaboration with the University of Rochester Medical Center.  Dr. Borkholder holds adjunct appointments with the University of Rochester departments of Otolaryngology and Biomedical Engineering.

Prior to joining RIT, Dr. Borkholder served as the Director of Hardware Engineering at ZONARE Medical Systems, Inc. where he led electronics and ASIC development for a portable premium quality ultrasound system utilizing non-standard imaging modalities.  At Cepheid, he served as the Director of Electronic Systems and Technical Lead for new products, developing automated systems for dna extraction and analysis.  At Eastman Kodak Company he worked on a variety of projects within the Microelectronics Technology Division involving the manufacture and characterization of CCD image sensors.

Dr. Borkholder’s doctoral work explored the use of microelectrode based sensors to monitor the morphology and electrophysiological activity of cultured cells as a means for toxin detection and pharmaceutical screening.


Education

  • Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, 1999 Thesis: Cell Based Biosensors using Microelectrodes
  • M.S., Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, 1994
  • B.S. Microelectronic Engineering, Rochester Institute of Technology, 1992
  • Biology of the Inner Ear: Experimental and Analytical Approaches, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, 2007.

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    Awards and Honors

  • Senior Member, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
  • United States Air Force Laboratory Graduate Fellowship
  • Rochester Engineering Society David Fergusson Scholarship
  • Nathaniel Rochester Society Scholarship
  • RIT Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Scholarship
  • Frank Horton Scholarship
  • Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa Nu, and Phi Kappa Phi Honor Societies

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    Courses Taught

  • EE 631 Biomedical Sensors and Transducers
  • EE 632 Fundamental Electrophysiology
  • EE 481 Electronics I
  • EE 482 Electronics II
  • ENG 231 Honors Intro to Product Development
  • ENG 232 Honors Reverse Engineering
  • ENG 233 Honors The Design Process
  • EE 205 Freshman Practicum
  • EE 305 Sophomore Practicum

    • Professional Societies

  • Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
  • IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS)
  • American Association for Engineering Education (ASEE)
  • Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO)
  • Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES)

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    Professional Activities

  • Reviewer on National Institutes of Health Neurotech/Engineering Special Emphasis Panel
  • Ad hoc reviewer, National Institutes of Health ZRG1 IFCN-G 10 B, Small Business: Ear
  • Reviewer, IEEE Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems

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    Patents

  • US Patent 6,942,971, September 13, 2005, “Apparatus for Analysis of a Nucleic Acid Amplification Reaction,” McMillan, W.A., Christel, L.A., Borkholder, D.A., and Young, S.J.
  • US Patent 6,911,327, June 28, 2005, “Method for Quantitative Analysis of a Nucleic Acid Amplification Reaction,” McMillan, W.A., Christel, L.A., Borkholder, D.A., and Young, S.J.
  • US Patent 6,783,934, August 31, 2004, “Methods for Quantitative Analysis of Nucleic Acid Amplification Reaction,” McMillan, W.A., Christel, L.A., Borkholder, D.A., and Young, S.J.
  • US Patent 6,713,297, March 30, 2004, “Apparatus for Quantitative Analysis of a nucleic acid amplification reaction,” McMillan, W.A., Christel, L.A., Borkholder, D.A., and Young, S.J.
  • US Patent 6,377,057, Apr 23, 2002, “Classification of Biological Agents According to the Spectral Density Signature of Evoked Changes in Cellular Electric Potential,” Borkholder, D.A.
  • US Patent 6,051,422, April 18, 2000, “Hybrid Biosensors,” Kovacs, G.T.A and Borkholder, D.A.
  • US Patent 5,981,268, November 9, 1999, “Hybrid Biosensors,” Kovacs, G.T.A and Borkholder, D.A.

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    Original Scientific Articles (Peer Reviewed)

  • Raisi, F., Belgrader, P., Borkholder, D. A., Herr, A. E., Kintz, G. J., Pourhamadi, F., Taylor, M. T., and Northrup, M. A., “Microchip Isoelectric Focusing Using a Miniature Scanning Detection System,” Electrophoresis, 22(11):2291-2295 (2001).
  • Belgrader, P., Okuzumi, M., Pourahmadi, F., Borkholder, D.A., and Northrup, M.A., “A Microfluidic Cartridge to Prepare Spores for PCR Analysis,” Biosensors & Bioelectronics 14:849-852 (2000).
  • Pancrazio, J.J., Whelan, J. P., Borkholder, D.A., Ma, W. and Stenger, D.A., “Development and Application of Cell-Based Biosensors,” Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 27:697–711 (1999).
  • Pancrazio, J.J., Bey, P.P. Jr., Cuttino, D.S., Kusel, J.K.,  Borkholder, D.A., Shaffer, K.M., Kovacs, G.T.A. and Stenger, D.A., “Portable Cell-Based Biosensor System for Toxin Detection,” Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 53(3):179-185 (1998).
  • Pancrazio J.J., Bey, P.P.Jr., Loloee, A., Manne, S., Chao, H.C., Howard, L.L., Gosney, W.M., Borkholder, D.A., Kovacs, G.T.A., Manos, P., Cuttino, D.S. and Stenger, D.A., “Description and Demonstration of a CMOS Amplifier-Based-System with Measurement and Stimulation Capability for Bioelectrical Signal Transduction,” Biosensors and Bioelectronics 13:971-979 (1998).
  • Jung, D.R., Cuttino, D.S., Pancrazio, J.J., Manos, P., Cluster, T., Sathanoori, R.S., Aloi, L.E., Coulombe, M.G., Bey, P., Czarnaski, M.A., Borkholder, D.A.,  Kovacs, G.T.A., Stenger, D.A. and  Hickman, J.J., “Cell-based Sensor Microelectrode Array Characterized by Imaging X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Impedance Measurements, and Extracellular Recordings," Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A, 16(3):1183-1188 (1998).
  • Borkholder, D., Bao, J., Maluf, N., Perl, E., and Kovacs, G., “Microelectrode Arrays for Stimulation of Neural Slice Preparations,” Journal of Neuroscience Methods,  77:61-66 (1997).
  • Kewley, D.T., Hills, M.D., Borkholder, D.A., Opris, I.E., Maluf, N.I., Storment, C.W., Bower, J.M. and Kovacs, G.T.A., “Plasma-Etched Neural Probes,” Sensors and Actuators: A Physical, 58:27-35, (1997).
  • Borkholder, D., Bao, J., Maluf, N., Perl, E. and Kovacs, G., “Microelectrode Arrays for Stimulation of Neural Slice Preparations,”  Annals of Biomedical Engineering, Volume 24, Supplement 1, p. S-68,  Oct. (1996).
  • Storment, C.W., Borkholder, D.A., Westerlind, V., Suh, J.W., Maluf, N.I. and Kovacs, G.T.A., “Flexible, Dry-Released Process for Aluminum Electrostatic Actuators,” IEEE J. Microelectromechanical Systems, Sept. (1994).
  • Owen, G., Borkholder, D.A., Knorr, C., Markle, D.A. and Pease, R.F.W., “Quarter-Micron Lithography with a Gapped Markle-Dyson System,” Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B, 12(6):3809-3813 (1994).

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    Refereed Conference Papers / Presentations

  • Czernikowski, R.S., Bailey, M.B., Borkholder, D.A., Marshall, M.M., Nye, A.H., and Reeve, N.R., “RIT’s Engineering Honors Program: Product Innovation in a Global Economy,” Proceedings of the 37th Annual ASEE/IEEE  Frontiers in Education Conference, Milwaukee, WI, October 10-13 (2007).
  • Johnson, D.G., Zhou, X.X., Frisina, R.D., and Borkholder, D.A., "Micro-Molded Cannulae for Intracochlear Infusions in Small Rodents," Proceedings of the 29th IEEE Annual Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Conference, Lyons, France, August 23-26 (2007).
  • Herr, A. E., Molho, J. I., Bharadwaj, R., Santiago, J. G., Kenny, T. W., Borkholder, D. A., and Northrup, M. A., “Miniaturized Isoelectric Focusing (mIEF) as a Component of a Multi-Dimensional Microfluidic System,” mTAS 2001 – Fifth International Conference on Miniaturized Chemical and Biochemical Analysis Systems, Monterey, CA, October 21-25 (2001)
  • Borkholder, D.A., DeBusschere, B.D. and Kovacs, G.T.A., “Hybrid Biosensors: Harnessing Living Tissues for Chem/Bio Warfare Agent Detection,” Proceedings of the Government Microcircuit Applications Conference (GOMAC), March 8-11 (1999).
  • DeBusschere, B. D., Borkholder, D. A. and Kovacs, G.T.A., “System Requirements for a Portable Cell Based Sensor,” Proceedings of the UTAS '98 Workshop, Banff, Canada, 13-16 October, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 443-446 (1998).
  • DeBusschere, B. D., Borkholder, D. A. and Kovacs, G.T.A., “Design of an Integrated Silicon-PDMS Cell Cartridge,” Technical digest of the 1998 Solid-State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, Hilton Head Island, SC, 6/7-6/11, Transducer Research Foundation, Cleveland, pp. 358-362 (1998).
  • Borkholder, D.A., DeBusschere, B.D., and Kovacs, G.T.A., “An Approach to the Classification of Unknown Biological Agents with Cell-based Sensors,” Technical digest of the 1998 Solid-State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, Hilton Head Island, SC, 6/7-6/11, Transducer Research Foundation, Cleveland, pp. 178-82 (1998).
  • Borkholder, D.A., Opris, I.E., Maluf, N.I.  and Kovacs, G.T.A., “Planar Electrode Array Systems for Neural Recording and Impedance Measurements,”  Conference Proceedings of the 1996 IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 10/31-11/3/96, IEEE (1996).
  • Borkholder, D.A., Maluf, N.I. and Kovacs, G.T.A., “Impedance Imaging for Hybrid Biosensor Applications,” Solid-State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, pp. 156 - 160, June 2-6 (1996).
  • Kewley, D.T., Hills, M.D., Borkholder, D.A., Opris, I.E., Maluf, N.I., Storment, C.W., Bower, J.M. and Kovacs, G.T.A., “Plasma-Etched Neural Probes,” Technical digest of the 1996 Solid-State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, Hilton Head Island, SC, pp. 266-271, June 2-6 (1996).
  • Storment, C.W., Borkholder, D.A., Westerlind, V.A., Maluf, N.I. and Kovacs, G.T.A.. “Dry-Released Process for Aluminum Electrostatic Actuators,” Technical Digest of the Solid-State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, Hilton Head Island, SC, pp. 95-98, June 13-16 (1994).
  • Grenville, A., Owen, G., Robinson, J., Borkholder, D., Frank, C., Pease, F. and Markle, D., “Masks for Markle-Dyson Optics,” Proceedings of the SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering, 2087:2-9 (1994).

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    Published Abstracts

  • Johnson, D.G., Zhu, X., Frisina, R.D. and Borkholder, D.A., “Engineered Interface for Intracochlear Infusions in Small Rodents,” ARO 2007 – 30th Annual Midwinter Meeting of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, Denver, CO, February 10-15 (2007).

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    Invited Talks

  • Borkholder, D.A., “Micromachined Structures for Biological Studies,” Invited talk, American Medical Writers Association Asilomar 2000 workshop, March 19-23 (2000).

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