RESEARCH

Main activities of MST within LaBSSAH are related to the development of microfluidic devices (Lab on a chip) and to the study of biomarkers, such as vesicles, nucleic acids, proteins and small molecules, in the framework of precision medicine. New technologies based on functional surfaces are also developed. In detail,

• Biophysical study of biomarkers, in particular extracellular vesicles (including high-resolution imaging). Biomarkers, isolated from biological fluids using standard or novel methods, are studied using confocal and atomic force microscopy to characterize macromolecular complexes and their interactions with different functional surfaces. Furthermore, the comparison between physiological and non-physiological structures is studied. The use of additional spectroscopic techniques completes this approach.

• Development of innovative methods based on functional surfaces for the purification of biomarkers from biological fluids. Extracellular vesicles and other biomarkers are analyzed in the context of liquid biopsy. Micro and nanotechnologies are exploited for the development of faster, cheaper, and easy-to-use systems that utilize small sample volumes for decentralized and non-invasive analysis. Chemiluminescence-based detection is also explored for the specific detection of biomarkers.

• Development of photonic biosensors for biomarker analysis in clinical diagnostics and real-time measurements of biomarkers from simplified and complex solutions are carried out .

Staff

Main Contact  Dr. Cristina Potrich cpotrich@fbk.eu

Dr. Lorenzo Lunelli lunelli@fbk.eu

Dr. Cecilia Pederzolli pederzolli@fbk.eu

Dr. Maria Cristina Biggio biggio@fbk.eu