Online Monitoring: Electrochemiluminescence based Gated Assay

Descripción del proyecto

Una nueva herramienta analítica podría ayudar a detectar trazas de agua contaminada

Unos test rápidos de agua que pudieran realizarse «in situ» contribuirían a eliminar la presencia de bacterias patógenas y a prevenir enfermedades comunes como la diarrea o la disentería. Las herramientas de análisis sensibles, portátiles y asequibles son fundamentales para una detección temprana de aguas contaminadas. Tales dispositivos analíticos diminutos deberían indicar analitos en concentraciones muy bajas y con una gran precisión. En el proyecto OMEGA, financiado por las Acciones Marie Skłodowska-Curie, se prevé integrar microfluídica, sistemas de administración cerrados, partículas magnéticas y electroquimioluminiscencia para desarrollar unos dispositivos analíticos fáciles de utilizar, asequibles y robustos con un rendimiento sin precedentes.

Objetivo

To find new and better ways to detect and monitor contamination of water, food and the environment as early as possible directly at
the site of impact is one of the most pressing tasks for researchers today. Early detection of and strategic monitoring to trace
contamination of water is therefore crucial. This emphasizes the need for sensitive, robust, portable and affordable (especially for
low-income countries) analysis tools that can report directly at site on the concentration of a target contaminant. Detecting
contamination early means that these small, mobile analytical devices have to indicate analytes at very low concentrations with
reliable uncertainty and accuracy, to avoid false positives and foster acceptance of such tools by relevant user groups like public
employees. In this project, I will address this need relying on the integration of microfluidics, gated delivery systems, magnetic beads
and electrochemiluminescence (ECL) detection. ECL is a detection method that operates against a zero background and gated
delivery systems exhibit inherent features of signal amplification. A combination of both strategies with the versatile handling and
miniaturization capabilities of magnetic beads and microfluidics promises to yield user-friendly, affordable and robust analytical
devices with unprecedented performance for the reliable quantification of analytes at ultra-trace levels (ppb and below) directly onsite
at the point-of-need. By matching my expertise in electrochemistry and microfluidics with the host’s expertise in gated delivery
systems, magnetic beads, luminescence spectroscopy and device integration, I have the unique opportunity to receive training in
various other disciplines, including metrology, that allow me to broaden my field of knowledge and to better shape the outline of
my future career as a high-level (bio)analytical scientist.