IMB-CNM Talks: 16s rRNA hybridation assay for the detection of Escherichia coli with a portable and automated lab-on-a-chip platform
By Mireia Burdó (predoctoral researcher at the Group of Chemical Transducers, IMB-CNM).
#IMBCNMTalks #predoc #PhD
Abstract
Antimicrobial resistance is a growing worldwide problem. In the case of severe infections, antimicrobial agents are prescribed without an accurate diagnostic due to the lack of fast systems to identify the aetiological agent causing disease and its antimicrobial resistance profile. Therefore, there is a demand to develop new technologies able to fasten the diagnostic of infections in order to reduce the misuse of antimicrobial agents.
In this work, we developed a compact and automated lab-on-a-chip platform to quantify the amount of Escherichia coli in biological samples related to infection diseases. The platform includes a pumping, absorbance measurement and reagent reservoirs components together with a series of wax valves to control the flow. A sandwich-like hybridization assay to detect the 16S rRNA sequence of Escherichia coli is implemented on our lab-on-a-chip.
About Mireia Burdó
Mireia Burdó has a Bachelor degree on Food Science and Technology (2010-2014) by Autonomous University of Barcelona and a Master degree in Advanced Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (2014-2015) by the same university. Her scientific career has been linked mainly to food microbiology and the development of diagnostic devices. In 2018, she joined the Chemical Transducers Group, IMB-CNM. Her research is mainly focused on the development of a microfluidic device to meet different applications. She is currently working on two projects: RES-KIT (from the Generalitat de Catalunya) and PANBioRA (from the European Union).