Arben Merkoçi

Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia

Nanobiosensors represent the next generation of biosensors that has emerged in the last two decades thanks to the contribution from new nanotechnologies and nanomaterials. One of the urgent application of nanobiosensors is related to the diagnostics in various clinical scenarios of COVID19 pandemics for which we have shown the recent advanced of these devices, the raised issues and the work requested to implement them in the clinical practice. [1] We also reported an electrochemical aptamer-based (EAB) sensor for the rapid and efficient detection of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The clinical potential of the sensor, was demonstrated in biological fluids (serum and artificial saliva) allowing for rapid (minutes) and single-step detection of the S protein in its clinical range. [2]

The broad range of nanomaterials with interesting optical or electrical properties and nanotechnologies is allowing breakthrough achievements in the field of nanobiosensors reaching extremely low detection limits (attomolar levels). [3] Nanobiosensors are also expected to contribute as smart devices in food and agriculture areas thanks also to their combination with artificial intelligence and machine learning tools as discussed in our recent invited news & views article at Nature Food. [4]

  • Reference
    Giulio Rosati, Andrea Idili, Claudio Parolo, Celia Fuentes-Chust, Enric Calucho, Liming Hu, Cecilia de Carvalho Castro e Silva, Lourdes Rivas, Emily P Nguyen, José F Bergua, Ruslan Alvárez-Diduk, José Muñoz, Christophe Junot, Oriol Penon, Dominique Monferrer, Emmanuel Delamarche, Arben Merkoçi 2021, “Nanodiagnostics to Face SARS-CoV-2 and Future Pandemics: From an Idea to the Market and Beyond”, ACS Nano 15 (11), 17137-17149.

    Andrea Idili, Claudio Parolo, Ruslán Alvarez-Diduk, Arben Merkoçi, 2021, “Rapid and efficient detection of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein using an electrochemical aptamer-based sensor”, ACS Sensors 6 (8), 3093-3101, 7. 1/2

    Sruthi Prasood Usha, Hariharan Manoharan, Rehan Deshmukh, Ruslan Álvarez-Diduk, Enric Calucho, VVR Sai, Arben Merkoçi, 2021,“Attomolar analyte sensing techniques (AttoSens): a review on a decade of progress on chemical and biosensing nanoplatforms”, Chem. Soc. Rev., 50, 13012-13089

    A Merkoçi 2021 “Smart nanobiosensors in agriculture”, Nature Food, 2, 920–921.