Publications

Annexin-V/Quantum dot probes for multimodal apoptosis monitoring in living cells: improving bioanalysis using electrochemistry

Helena Monton, Claudio Parolo, Antonio Aranda-Ramos, Arben Merkoçi and Carme Nogués . Nanoscale, 2015, 7, 4097-4104
There is a great demand to develop novel techniques that allow useful and complete monitoring of apoptosis, which is a key factor of several diseases and target of drug development. Here, we present the use of a novel dual electrochemical/optical label for the detection and study of apoptosis. We combined the specificity of Annexin-V...

Lab-in-a-syringe using gold nanoparticles for rapid immunosensing of protein biomarkers.

Gisele Elias Nunes-Pauli, Alfredo de la Escosura-Muñiz, Claudio Parolo, Ivan H Bechtold and Arben Merkoçi. Lab Chip, 2015,15, 399-405
We have developed a paper and gold nanoparticle (AuNP)-based lab-in-a-syringe (LIS) for immunosensing of biomarkers. This simple diagnostic device features simultaneous sampling and vertical-flow operation, meaning that unlike typical immunosensors, it does not suffer from any delay between sampling and detection. It can handle large-volume,...

Antithyroid drug detection using an enzyme cascade blocking in a nanoparticle-based lab-on-a-chip system

Sevinc Kurbanoglu, Carmen C. Mayorga-Martinez, Mariana Medina-Sánchez, Lourdes Rivas, Sibel A. Ozkan, Arben Merkoçi.. Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 2015, 67, 670–676.
A methimazole (MT) biosensor based on a nanocomposite of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) functionalized with iridium oxide nanoparticles (IrOx NPs) and tyrosinase (Tyr) immobilized onto screen printed electrode (SPE) by using a permanent magnet is presented. This system is evaluated in batch mode via chelating copper at the active...

Nanoparticles-based nanochannels assembled on a plastic flexible substrate for label-free immunosensing

Alfredo de la Escosura-Muñiz, Marisol Espinoza-Castañeda, Madoka Hasegawa, Laetitia Philippe, Arben Merkoçi. Nano Research. 2015, 8(4), 1180–1188
A novel, cheap, disposable and single-use nanoparticles-based nanochannel platform assembled on a flexible substrate for label-free immunosensing is presented. This sensing platform is formed by the dip-coating of a homogeneous and assembled monolayer of carboxylated polystyrene nanospheres (PS, 200 and 500 nm-sized) onto the working...

Simple on-plastic/paper inkjet-printed solid- state Ag/AgCl pseudo-reference electrode

Everson T. S. G. da Silva , Sandrine Miserere , Lauro T. Kubota , and Arben Merkoçi  . Analytical Chemistry. 86 (21), pp 10531–10534. 2014.
A miniaturized, disposable and low cost Ag/AgCl pseudo-reference electrode based on inkjet printing has been developed. Silver ink was printed and chlorinated with bleach solution. The reference electrodes obtained in this work showed a good reproducibility and stability during at least 30 minutes continuous measurement and even...

Improving sensitivity of gold nanoparticles-based lateral flow assays by using wax-printed pillars as delay barriers of microfluidics

Lourdes Rivas, Mariana Medina, Alfredo de la Escosura-Muñiz and Arben Merkoçi. Lab Chip, 2014, 14, 4406-4414
Although lateral flow assays (LFA) are currently being used in some point-of-care applications (POC) they cannot still be extended to a broader range of analytes for which higher sensitivities and lower detection limits are required. To overcome such drawbacks, we propose here a simple and facile alternative based on the use of delay...

Highly Sensitive and Rapid Determination of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in Minced Beef and Water using Electrocatalytic Gold Nanoparticle Tags

Abdel-Rahim Hussein Abdel-Azzem Hassan, Alfredo de la Escosura-Muñiz, Arben Merkoçi. Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 2015, 67, 511-515
A simple, highly sensitive and specific immunosensing assay for rapid detection and quantification of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in meat and water samples based on the electrocatalytic properties of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) towards hydrogen evolution reaction and superparamagnetic microbeads (MBs) as pre-concentration/purification...

Alzheimer′s disease biomarkers detection in human samples by efficient capturing through porous magnetic microspheres and labelling with electrocatalytic gold nanoparticles

Alfredo de la Escosura-Muñiz, Zdeněk Plichta, Daniel Horák, Arben Merkoçi. Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 2015, 67, 162-169.
A nanobiosensor based on the use of porous magnetic microspheres (PMM) as efficient capturing/pre-concentrating platform is presented for detection of Alzheimer′s disease (AD) biomarkers. These PMMs prepared by a multistep swelling polymerization combined with iron oxide precipitation afford carboxyl functional groups suitable...

An Inkjet-Printed Field-Effect Transistor for Label-Free Biosensing

Mariana Medina-Sanchez, Carme Martínez-Domingo, Eloi Ramon, Arben Merkoçi. . Advanced Functional Materials, 20 (40), 6291–6302. 2014
A flexible, biological field-effect transistor (BioFET) for use in biosensing is reported. The BioFET is based on an organic thin-film transistor (OTFT) fabricated mainly by inkjet printing and subsequently functionalized with antibodies for protein recognition. The BioFET is assessed for label-free detection of a model protein,...

Nanochannel array device operating through Prussian blue nanoparticles for sensitive label-free immunodetection of a Cancer biomarker

Marisol Espinoza-Castañeda, Alfredo de la Escosura-Muñiz, Alejandro Chamorro, Carmen de Torres, Arben Merkoçi. Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 2015, 67, 107-114.
A novel nanochannel array (NC) device that operates through Prussian blue nanoparticles (PBNPs) as red-ox indicator for sensitive label free immunodetection of a cancer biomarker is presented. Stable and narrow-sized (around 4 nm) PBNPs, protected by polyvinylpyrrolidone, exhibited a well-defined and reproducible red-ox behavior...