Beatriz Prieto Simón

Beatriz Prieto Simón

Institut Català d'Investigació Química

Engineering Sciences

Beatriz obtained her PhD in chemistry (UAB), conducting part of her doctoral research on biosensors at AgResearch (New Zealand) and at the University of Ioannina (Greece). She conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Perpignan (UPVD) (2005–07), with stays at LISE (CNRS) and at the International Center of Biodynamics (Romania). In 2007, she joined the Tokyo University of Technology as Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellow. In 2009, she returned to the UPVD and then joined IBEC as Juan de la Cierva Fellow. In 2012, she moved to the University of South Australia where she won a Senior Research Fellowship. After four years, she joined Monash University as Senior Research Fellow. In 2018 she joined the URV as Ramón y Cajal Fellow, becoming ICREA Research Professor in 2020. In 2023 she joined ICIQ as group leader of the Bioinspired Nanotechnologies lab, funded by the AGAUR (2021 SGR 00223), which aims at engineering advanced materials for biosensing applications.

Research interests

Her research aims to deliver versatile nanoarchitectures to build bespoke diagnostics, by harnessing high-precision fabrication methods, and advances in engineering surface functionalities. Their assembly in hierarchical structures, with tuneable electrochemical properties and surface chemistry, and displayed bioreceptors, is strongly intertwined with the material’s functions. Her interest lies in gathering new knowledge on the relationship between nanoarchitecture/displayed functionalities and function, to design sensors underpinning personalised clinical management of infections. The next generation of diagnostics is expected to meet the needs for host-immune response assessment, pathogen-associated and antibiotic resistance biomarkers detection, and monitoring of antibiotic levels. The potential of these tools to guide antibiotics choice is foreseen as a key driver toward effective treatment, protecting patients from antibiotics adverse effects, and dwindling antibiotic resistance.

Selected publications

- Ceto X, McRae JM, Miercynska-Vasilev A, Voelcker NH & Prieto-Simón B 2023, 'Towards the rapid detection of haze-forming proteins', Talanta, 268, 125305.
- Junga A, Pilmane M, Serstnova K, Lohova E, Melderis I, Gontar L, Kochanski M, Drutowska A, Maroti G & Prieto-Simón B 2023, 'Composition of mastitis causing microorganisms and cytokines in healthy cow's milk: Pilot study', Proceedings of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, Section B: Natural, Exact and Applied Sciences, 77, 169-177.
- Lazaro A, Villarino R, Lazaro M, Canellas N, Prieto-Simon B & Girbau D 2023, 'Recent Advances in Batteryless NFC Sensors for Chemical Sensing and Biosensing', Biosensors-basel, 13, 8, 775.
- Gontar L, Kochański M, Drutowska A, Pilmane M, Šerstnova K, Maróti G, Rajendran AA, Haji-Hashemi H, Prieto-Simón B 2023, 'Channel-based biosensors to support improved bovine mastitis management. International Coordination of Research on Infectious Animal Diseases (ICRAD) First Call', GMPC Thesis & Opinions Platform, 3, 2, 1-13.

Selected research activities

- Active grants: DIAG4AMR (PID2021) & Era-Net ICRAD (PCI2020) & 2021 SGR 00223
- Executive editor of Analytical Biochemistry
- Keynote speaker at the 2nd Annual Conference on Global Nanotechnology (Madrid) and XXVII Transfrontier Meeting on Sensors and Biosensors (France)
- Research contract with Arquimea (2023) to develop a microneedle-based wearable sensing patch
- Director of the PhD thesis defended by Grace Pei Chin: Electrochemical biosensing to unveil the role of exosomes as cancer biomarkers. Monash University (Australia)
- Member of two international (Australia, France) and one national (UAB) PhD thesis examination committees
- Rapporteur for the Romanian Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding