Nanobiosensors and Bioanalytical Applications

Group leader: Laura M. Lechuga

Overview

Main research lines

Plasmonics (SPR) and nanoplasmonics (LSPR) biosensors
Nanophotonic biosensors based on Silicon Photonics technology (MZI and BiMW)
Customised polymer microfluidic devices and flow delivery systems
Full integration in lab-on-a-chip and point-of-care biosensor analytical platforms
Universal biofunctionalisation techniques and biochip packaging
Bioanalytical applications in clinical, environmental and molecular biology, providing application-specific functionalities

Group leader

Laura M. Lechuga

CSIC Research Professor and Group Leader

Prof. Laura M. Lechuga received her PhD in Chemistry from the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain) in 1992. She is Full Professor of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and Head of the Nanobiosensors and Bioanalytical Applications Group at the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) in Barcelona (Spain) and at the Networking Biomedical Research Center (CIBER-BBN). She has been Adjunct Professor at The Artic University of Norway (2012-2016) and Distinguished Visiting Professor at University of Campinas (Brazil) (2013- 2017).

The principal focus of her research is the development of novel nanobiosensor devices based on nanoplasmonics and silicon-based photonics principles, including surface biofunctionalization, microfluidics for automatic fluid delivery and complete lab-on-a-chip integration for point-of-care devices. The use of nanobiosensor devices for a wide range of challenging clinical and environmental applications is one of her main objectives.

She has published over 260 articles, book chapters and proceedings, has 8 families of patents, and has presented her work worldwide in more than 360 invited talks. She has co-founded two spin-off companies. Prof. Lechuga is Associate Editor of Analyst (RSC) and has been Associate Editor for other two physics and engineering journals. She is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of several national and international high-level research centres and has taken part in numerous international evaluation panels. She has participated in many EU funded projects (some of them as Coordinator) and has been part of EU Evaluation Panels in the 6th, 7th and H2020 Framework Programmes (including ERC- Adv panels).

She has received several prizes and recognitions along her career, such as; the Prize of Physics, Innovation and Technology from the Spanish Royal Society of Physics and BBVA Foundation in 2016; the Fellow of the Optical Society (OSA) Award in 2014; the Ada Byron Prize, the King Jaume I Prize, and the Spanish National Research Council Prize in 2020.

In 2020 Prof. Laura Lechuga was received three prestigious awards:

King Jaume I Prize
“Juan de la Cierva” National Research Award
Ada Byron Prize