Smart electrochemical biosensors for Point-of-Care testing

This PhD project aims at the development of smart electrochemical biosensors for Point-of-Care Testing. For all the devices, screen-printed electrodes functionalised with nanomaterials (gold nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes) were used as a platform and signal generation was provided by enzymatic reaction. In particular, smart immunosensors for COVID-19 diagnosis and for the assessment of immunity were developed. In the first case, the presence of Spike protein in nasopharyngeal swabs was tested, while immune response after vaccination or SARS-CoV-2 infection was tested with immunoassays to detect the presence of antibodies in serum samples. In this project, moreover, a highly sensitive magneto-genosensing assay based on PNA probes was developed to detect the presence of KRAS gene related mutation in liquid biopsy. For all the developed biosensors, the signal readout was performed using a smart, portable, battery-powered potentiostat based on a Wi-Fi protocol connected to a cloud that allows data acquisition, storage and sharing, making these devices consistent with the concept of Point-of-Care testing, as they can be brought to test patients in non-hospital settings. Finally, during a research period spent at Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2,Bellaterra, Barcelona, ES), the design of micropore nanoelectrodes to detect different-size molecules in blood samples was studied evaluating different parameters related to the fabrication of the devices.