Dr Patricia Ramírez Priego wins a CERCA Pioneer Award 2021 for her doctoral thesis

by Virginia Greco

Her research on point-of-care biosensor devices for clinical diagnosis in developing countries was directed by ICN2 group leader Prof. Laura Lechuga.

Dr Patricia Ramírez Priego, currently postdoctoral researcher in the ICN2 NanoBiosensors and Bioanalytical Applications Group, led by Prof. Laura Lechuga, has been assigned a CERCA Pioneer Award 2021 for her PhD thesis titled "Low-cost point-of-care biosensor device for clinical diagnosis in developing countries", a work that she carried out in Prof. Lechuga’s group.

The jury considered that the thesis, in which an innovative portable biosensor was fully developed for the rapid diagnosis of tuberculosis directly in urine samples, could have a great social impact, especially in developing countries, and a clear commercial interest. This new photonic biosensor is based on a highly sensitive interferometric transducer incorporated into a single-use microfluidic cartridge.

The necessary elements for light collection and optical reading are integrated in a prototype, which allows real-time monitoring, data processing and control of fluid injections into the sensor cartridge. The work has demonstrated the detection of a lipopolysaccharide present in the bacterial cell wall, lipoarabinomannan (LAM), directly in urine samples in less than 15 minutes, without any kind of marking or amplification, which greatly simplifies the process of obtaining results. Furthermore, the design of a portable biosensor allows the simultaneous detection of a panel of six different biomarkers from a single sample.

A CERCA Pioneer Award 2021 was also assigned to Dr Damià Viana, whose thesis project was coordinated by Prof. Antonio Garrido, leader of the ICN2 Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices Group, and to Dr Eduard Masvidal Codina, who carried out his research under the tutorship of Prof. Antonio Garrido and of Dr Anton Guimerà (IMB-CNM, CSIC).

The jury was composed of: Melba Navarro, Technology Transfer Expert at CIMNE Tecnologia; Nadia Pons, Director of the Health Entrepreneurship Program at the Barcelona Medical Association; Núria Martí, Director of Innovation at Biocat; Manuel Palacín, Director of The Collider programme at Mobile World Capital Barcelona; Julià Manzanas, Regional Business Development Manager for Southern Europe at AREOPA Group International and President of the Knowledge Economy and Innovation Committee of the Col-legi d'Economistes de Catalunya; and Joan Sansaloni, Head of the Industrial and Intellectual Property unit at ACCIÓ.

The award ceremony will take place on 20 December at 12pm in an online format on the CERCA YouTube channel.