Staff directory
Giulio Rosati
Postdoctoral Researcher
giulio.rosati(ELIMINAR)@icn2.cat
Nanobioelectronics and Biosensors
- ORCID: 0000-0002-0227-4561
Publications
2022
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A plug, print & play inkjet printing and impedance-based biosensing technology operating through a smartphone for clinical diagnostics
Rosati G., Urban M., Zhao L., Yang Q., de Carvalho Castro e Silva C., Bonaldo S., Parolo C., Nguyen E.P., Ortega G., Fornasiero P., Paccagnella A., Merkoçi A. Biosensors and Bioelectronics; 196 (113737) 2022. 10.1016/j.bios.2021.113737. IF: 10.618
Simplicity is one of the key feature for the spread of any successful technological product. Here, a method for rapid and low-cost fabrication of electrochemical biosensors is presented. This “plug, print & play” method involves inkjet-printing even in an office-like environment, without the need of highly specialized expertise or equipment, guaranteeing an ultra-fast idea to (scaled) prototype production time. The printed biosensors can be connected to a smartphone through its audio input for their impedance readout, demonstrating the validity of the system for point-of-care biosensing. Proper electrodes layout guarantees high sensitivity and is validated by finite element simulations. The introduction of a passivation method (wax printing) allowed to complete the devices fabrication process, increasing their sensitivity. Indeed, the wax allowed reducing the interference related to the parasitic currents flowing through the permeable coating of the employed substrates, which was used for the chemical sintering, thus avoiding the common thermal treatment after printing. As a case study, we used the devices to develop an electrochemical aptamer-based sensor for the rapid detection of neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) in urine – a clinically important marker of acute kidney injury. The aptasensor platform is capable of detecting clinically relevant concentrations of NGAL with a simple and rapid smartphone readout. The developed technology may be extended in the future to continuous monitoring, taking advantage of its flexibility to integrate it in tubes, or to other diagnostic applications where cost/efficiency and rapidity of the research, development and implementation of point of care devices is a must. © 2021
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Label-free and reagentless electrochemical genosensor based on graphene acid for meat adulteration detection
Flauzino J.M.R., Nguyen E.P., Yang Q., Rosati G., Panáček D., Brito-Madurro A.G., Madurro J.M., Bakandritsos A., Otyepka M., Merkoçi A. Biosensors and Bioelectronics; 195 (113628) 2022. 10.1016/j.bios.2021.113628. IF: 10.618
With the increased demand for beef in emerging markets, the development of quality-control diagnostics that are fast, cheap and easy to handle is essential. Especially where beef must be free from pork residues, due to religious, cultural or allergic reasons, the availability of such diagnostic tools is crucial. In this work, we report a label-free impedimetric genosensor for the sensitive detection of pork residues in meat, by leveraging the biosensing capabilities of graphene acid - a densely and selectively functionalized graphene derivative. A single stranded DNA probe, specific for the pork mitochondrial genome, was immobilized onto carbon screen-printed electrodes modified with graphene acid. It was demonstrated that graphene acid improved the charge transport properties of the electrode, following a simple and rapid electrode modification and detection protocol. Using non-faradaic electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, which does not require any electrochemical indicators or redox pairs, the detection of pork residues in beef was achieved in less than 45 min (including sample preparation), with a limit of detection of 9% w/w pork content in beef samples. Importantly, the sample did not need to be purified or amplified, and the biosensor retained its performance properties unchanged for at least 4 weeks. This set of features places the present pork DNA sensor among the most attractive for further development and commercialization. Furthermore, it paves the way for the development of sensitive and selective point-of-need sensing devices for label-free, fast, simple and reliable monitoring of meat purity. © 2021
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Metabolomics for personalized medicine: the input of analytical chemistry from biomarker discovery to point-of-care tests
Castelli F.A., Rosati G., Moguet C., Fuentes C., Marrugo-Ramírez J., Lefebvre T., Volland H., Merkoçi A., Simon S., Fenaille F., Junot C. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry; 414 (2): 759 - 789. 2022. 10.1007/s00216-021-03586-z. IF: 4.142
Metabolomics refers to the large-scale detection, quantification, and analysis of small molecules (metabolites) in biological media. Although metabolomics, alone or combined with other omics data, has already demonstrated its relevance for patient stratification in the frame of research projects and clinical studies, much remains to be done to move this approach to the clinical practice. This is especially true in the perspective of being applied to personalized/precision medicine, which aims at stratifying patients according to their risk of developing diseases, and tailoring medical treatments of patients according to individual characteristics in order to improve their efficacy and limit their toxicity. In this review article, we discuss the main challenges linked to analytical chemistry that need to be addressed to foster the implementation of metabolomics in the clinics and the use of the data produced by this approach in personalized medicine. First of all, there are already well-known issues related to untargeted metabolomics workflows at the levels of data production (lack of standardization), metabolite identification (small proportion of annotated features and identified metabolites), and data processing (from automatic detection of features to multi-omic data integration) that hamper the inter-operability and reusability of metabolomics data. Furthermore, the outputs of metabolomics workflows are complex molecular signatures of few tens of metabolites, often with small abundance variations, and obtained with expensive laboratory equipment. It is thus necessary to simplify these molecular signatures so that they can be produced and used in the field. This last point, which is still poorly addressed by the metabolomics community, may be crucial in a near future with the increased availability of molecular signatures of medical relevance and the increased societal demand for participatory medicine. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.] © 2021, The Author(s).
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Wearable and fully printed microfluidic nanosensor for sweat rate, conductivity, and copper detection with healthcare applications
Yang Q., Rosati G., Abarintos V., Aroca M.A., Osma J.F., Merkoçi A. Biosensors and Bioelectronics; 202 (114005) 2022. 10.1016/j.bios.2022.114005. IF: 10.618
Wearables are becoming pervasive in our society, but they are still mainly based on physical sensors with just few optical and electrochemical exceptions. Sweat, amongst other body fluids, is easily and non-invasively accessible, abundant, and relatively poor of interfering species. The biomarkers of interest in sweat space from ions and small molecules to whole organisms. Heavy metals have been found being biomarkers of several diseases and pathological conditions. Copper in particular is correlated to Wilson's disease and liver cirrhosis among others. Nevertheless, several issues such as sampling conditions, sweat rate normalization, reliable continuous monitoring, and typically expensive fabrication methods still needs to be addressed in sweat analysis with wearables. Herein, we propose a fully printed wearable microfluidic nanosensor with an integrated wireless smartphone-based readout. Our system can easily be applied on the skin and actively stimulate perspiration, normalizing the heavy metals concentration with respect to the volume of the sample and the sweat rate. The system has a limit of detection of 396 ppb, a linear range up to 2500 ppb and a sensitivity of 2.3 nA/ppb. © 2022
2021
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Nanodiagnostics to Face SARS-CoV-2 and Future Pandemics: From an Idea to the Market and beyond
Rosati G., Idili A., Parolo C., Fuentes-Chust C., Calucho E., Hu L., Castro E Silva C.D.C., Rivas L., Nguyen E.P., Bergua J.F., Alvárez-Diduk R., Muñoz J., Junot C., Penon O., Monferrer D., Delamarche E., Merkoçi A. ACS Nano; 15 (11): 17137 - 17149. 2021. 10.1021/acsnano.1c06839. IF: 15.881
The COVID-19 pandemic made clear how our society requires quickly available tools to address emerging healthcare issues. Diagnostic assays and devices are used every day to screen for COVID-19 positive patients, with the aim to decide the appropriate treatment and containment measures. In this context, we would have expected to see the use of the most recent diagnostic technologies worldwide, including the advanced ones such as nano-biosensors capable to provide faster, more sensitive, cheaper, and high-throughput results than the standard polymerase chain reaction and lateral flow assays. Here we discuss why that has not been the case and why all the exciting diagnostic strategies published on a daily basis in peer-reviewed journals are not yet successful in reaching the market and being implemented in the clinical practice. ©
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The Microbiome Meets Nanotechnology: Opportunities and Challenges in Developing New Diagnostic Devices
Fuentes-Chust C., Parolo C., Rosati G., Rivas L., Perez-Toralla K., Simon S., de Lecuona I., Junot C., Trebicka J., Merkoçi A. Advanced Materials; 33 (18, 2006104) 2021. 10.1002/adma.202006104. IF: 30.849
Monitoring of the human microbiome is an emerging area of diagnostics for personalized medicine. Here, the potential of different nanomaterials and nanobiosensing technologies is reviewed for the development of novel diagnostic devices for the detection and measurement of microbiome-related biomarkers. Moreover, the current and future landscape of microbiome-based diagnostics is defined by exploring the advantages and disadvantages of current nanotechnology-based approaches, especially in the context of developing point-of-care (PoC) devices that would meet the international guidelines known as REASSURED (Real-time connectivity; Ease of specimen collection; Affordability; Sensitivity; Specificity; User-friendliness; Rapid & robust operation; Equipment-free; and Deliverability). Finally, the strategies of the latest international scientific consortia working in this field are analyzed, the current microbiome diagnostics market are reported and the principal ethical, legal, and societal issues related to microbiome R&D and innovation are discussed. © 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH
2020
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Lateral flow assay modified with time-delay wax barriers as a sensitivity and signal enhancement strategy
Sena-Torralba A., Ngo D.B., Parolo C., Hu L., Álvarez-Diduk R., Bergua J.F., Rosati G., Surareungchai W., Merkoçi A. Biosensors and Bioelectronics; 168 (112559) 2020. 10.1016/j.bios.2020.112559. IF: 10.257
The ease of use, low cost and quick operation of lateral flow assays (LFA) have made them some of the most common point of care biosensors in a variety of fields. However, their generally low sensitivity has limited their use for more challenging applications, where the detection of low analytic concentrations is required. Here we propose the use of soluble wax barriers to selectively and temporarily accumulate the target and label nanoparticles on top of the test line (TL). This extended internal incubation step promotes the formation of the immune-complex, generating a 51.7-fold sensitivity enhancement, considering the limit of quantification, and up to 96% signal enhancement compared to the conventional LFA for Human IgG (H-IgG) detection. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.