Final Report Summary - NANOSENS (Electrochemical biosensors as new generation of biotechnological devices for food safety and quality monitoring)
Project objectives
In three years, from 2009 to 2012, 12 researchers from three different institutions and countries have participated in this exchange international research project (three Italians from University of Teramo, five Portuguese from the University of Coimbra and four Moroccans from University Hassan II) using all the 72 researcher-months available, 24 by Italians, 24 by Portuguese and 24 by Moroccans. During this period, 23 publications were published in peer-reviewed journals and 26 works were presented in the international congresses as invited, oral or poster presentations.
The key point of this research was to take advantage of molecular modelling software to rationalise the design of molecular traps with the aim of reducing by orders of magnitude the efforts necessary to obtain specific receptors. The basic idea was to design structures matching specific requirements by mimicking real biological molecules. The important research improvement was to bring protocols and platform demonstrations to European standard quality supporting all predicted phenomena with experimental evidence by coupling biomimetic receptors with biosensors transducers.
In particular in the biosensors area the use of biological receptors still limits their commercialisation as biotechnological devices because of interferences from matrix effects and issues that arise in sampling and sample preparation, long-term calibration and short life time of the device, reproducibility, reliability and manufacturing limitations. Therefore, the implementation of practical devices is limited.
The research objective was focus on overcoming biosensor manufacturing limitations by developing new rational methodologies supported by a mix of simulated and experimental evidence. The reasons for carrying out research in the field covered by this exchange research project can be resumed in the following points:
- Scientific. This project exposed and expanded theoretical scientific knowledge and advanced applied science;
- Research and development. By applying the proposed methodology the research and production costs and time can be reduced since fewer experimental trials are needed;
- Economic. The data published can be commercialised and capitalise European science and technology;
- Training and mobility. The proposed project allowed close contact and collaboration between European and Moroccan scientists and institutions. This new research approach encouraged significant collaborative research in this field, with the objective of facilitating the development of new and improved algorithms for biomimetic receptors in the biosensors area;
- Health and environment. The proposed methodology can be used to improve actual synthetic procedures for production of devices that may have a direct impact on environmental protection and improvement of the quality of foods and life.
The development of models to produce portable low-cost and highly sensitive technology for the detection of different families of target represented the major innovation and brought significant contribution to the sensor technology. The project falls in several Seventh Framework Programme proposed areas. In particular the goal was to show the relevance of new the technologies' application, using real samples, to demonstrate the power of new developed tools, to discuss their usage and their advantages and disadvantages.
The proposed research project combined Interdisciplinary aspects by using chemistry, biology, and informatics. Areas such as Quantum Chemistry, Statistical Thermodynamics, Analytical Chemistry and Biochemistry were implied in this research.
In three years, from 2009 to 2012, 12 researchers from three different institutions and countries have participated in this exchange international research project (three Italians from University of Teramo, five Portuguese from the University of Coimbra and four Moroccans from University Hassan II) using all the 72 researcher-months available, 24 by Italians, 24 by Portuguese and 24 by Moroccans. During this period, 23 publications were published in peer-reviewed journals and 26 works were presented in the international congresses as invited, oral or poster presentations.
The key point of this research was to take advantage of molecular modelling software to rationalise the design of molecular traps with the aim of reducing by orders of magnitude the efforts necessary to obtain specific receptors. The basic idea was to design structures matching specific requirements by mimicking real biological molecules. The important research improvement was to bring protocols and platform demonstrations to European standard quality supporting all predicted phenomena with experimental evidence by coupling biomimetic receptors with biosensors transducers.
In particular in the biosensors area the use of biological receptors still limits their commercialisation as biotechnological devices because of interferences from matrix effects and issues that arise in sampling and sample preparation, long-term calibration and short life time of the device, reproducibility, reliability and manufacturing limitations. Therefore, the implementation of practical devices is limited.
The research objective was focus on overcoming biosensor manufacturing limitations by developing new rational methodologies supported by a mix of simulated and experimental evidence. The reasons for carrying out research in the field covered by this exchange research project can be resumed in the following points:
- Scientific. This project exposed and expanded theoretical scientific knowledge and advanced applied science;
- Research and development. By applying the proposed methodology the research and production costs and time can be reduced since fewer experimental trials are needed;
- Economic. The data published can be commercialised and capitalise European science and technology;
- Training and mobility. The proposed project allowed close contact and collaboration between European and Moroccan scientists and institutions. This new research approach encouraged significant collaborative research in this field, with the objective of facilitating the development of new and improved algorithms for biomimetic receptors in the biosensors area;
- Health and environment. The proposed methodology can be used to improve actual synthetic procedures for production of devices that may have a direct impact on environmental protection and improvement of the quality of foods and life.
The development of models to produce portable low-cost and highly sensitive technology for the detection of different families of target represented the major innovation and brought significant contribution to the sensor technology. The project falls in several Seventh Framework Programme proposed areas. In particular the goal was to show the relevance of new the technologies' application, using real samples, to demonstrate the power of new developed tools, to discuss their usage and their advantages and disadvantages.
The proposed research project combined Interdisciplinary aspects by using chemistry, biology, and informatics. Areas such as Quantum Chemistry, Statistical Thermodynamics, Analytical Chemistry and Biochemistry were implied in this research.