Publications

MXenes in healthcare: synthesis, fundamentals and applications

Zaheer Ud Din Babar, Vincenzo Iannotti, Giulio Rosati, Ayesha Zaheer, Raffaele Velotta, Bartolomeo Della Ventura, Ruslan Álvarez-Diduk, Arben Merkoçi. Chemical Society Reviews
Since their discovery over a decade ago, MXenes have transformed the field of “materials for healthcare”, stimulating growing interest in their healthcare-related applications. These developments have also driven significant advancements in MXenes’ synthesis. This review systematically examines the synthesis of MXenes and their...

High resolution portable platform for pH sensing via colorimetric fluorescence of carbon dots

Gianluca Minervini, Annamaria Panniello, Daniel Quesada-González, Gabriel Maroli, Elisabetta Fanizza, Marinella Striccoli, Ruslan Álvarez-Diduk, Maria Lucia Curri, Arben Merkoçi. Chemical Engineering Journal
Portable sensing platforms based on nanoparticles are becoming increasingly significant across diverse fields, as they enable real-time measurements in various environments without complex lab protocols. Carbon dots (CDs), known for low toxicity and intense fluorescence, can exhibit pH-dependent optical emission, generally related...

Introducing all-inkjet-printed microneedles for in-vivo biosensing

Giulio Rosati, Patricia Batista Deroco, Matheus Guitti Bonando, Gustavo G Dalkiranis, Kumara Cordero-Edwards, Gabriel Maroli, Lauro Tatsuo Kubota, Osvaldo N Oliveira, Lúcia Akemi Miyazato Saito, Cecilia de Carvalho Castro Silva, Arben Merkoçi. Scientific Reports
Microneedles are mainly used for pain-free drug administration and in biosensing for wearable systems. They are also promising for fields such as agronomy for precision farming, but their fabrication is not straightforward, often requiring expensive equipment and cleanroom protocols, being unsuitable for mass production. Here, we...

Laser-assembled conductive 3D nanozyme film-based nitrocellulose sensor for real-time detection of H2O2 released from cancer cells

Qurat UA Bukhari, Flavio Della Pelle, Ruslan Alvarez-Diduk, Annalisa Scroccarello, Carme Nogués, Oriol Careta, Dario Compagnone, Arben Merkoci. Biosensors and Bioelectronics
In this work, a nanostructured conductive film possessing nanozyme features was straightforwardly produced via laser-assembling and integrated into complete nitrocellulose sensors; the cellulosic substrate allows to host live cells, while the nanostructured film nanozyme activity ensures the enzyme-free real-time detection of hydrogen...

Lateral flow immunoassay for simultaneous detection of C. difficile, MRSA, and K. pneumoniae

Ana Rubio-Monterde, Lourdes Rivas, Marc Gallegos, Daniel Quesada-González, Arben Merkoçi. Microchimica Acta
Mainly performed within a rapid diagnostic tests company, a lateral flow (LF) system using gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as transducers is presented able to detect three bacteria of interest, of relevance for antimicrobial resistance (AMR): Clostridioides difficile, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and Klebsiella...

Wearable, battery-free, wireless multiplexed printed sensors for heat stroke prevention with mussel-inspired bio-adhesive membranes

Gabriel Maroli, Giulio Rosati, Salvio Suárez-García, Daniel Bedmar-Romero, Robert Kobrin, Álvaro González-Laredo, Massimo Urban, Ruslan Alvárez-Diduk, Daniel Ruiz-Molina, Arben Merkoçi. Biosensors and Bioelectronics
Wearable technologies are becoming pervasive in our society, and their development continues to accelerate the untapped potential of continuous and ubiquitous sensing, coupled with big data analysis and interpretation, has only just begun to unfold. However, existing wearable devices are still bulky (mainly due to batteries and electronics)...

Reduced graphene oxide electrodes meet lateral flow assays: A promising path to advanced point-of-care diagnostics

Enric Calucho, Ruslan Álvarez-Diduk*, Andrew Piper, Marianna Rossetti, Tarja K. Nevanen, Arben Merkoçi*. Biosensors and Bioelectronics
Research in electrochemical detection in lateral flow assays (LFAs) has gained significant momentum in recent years. The primary impetus for this surge in interest is the pursuit of achieving lower limits of detection, especially given that LFAs are the most widely employed point-of-care biosensors. Conventionally, the strategy for...

Low-cost Inkjet-Printed nanostructured biosensor based on CRISPR/Cas12a system for pathogen detection

Angela Gilda Carota, Andrea Bonini, Massimo Urban, Noemi Poma, Federico Maria Vivaldi, Arianna Tavanti, Marianna Rossetti, Giulio Rosati, Arben Merkoçi, Fabio Di Francesco. Biosensors and Bioelectronics
The escalating global incidence of infectious diseases caused by pathogenic bacteria, especially in developing countries, emphasises the urgent need for rapid and portable pathogen detection devices. This study introduces a sensitive and specific electrochemical biosensing platform utilising cost-effective electrodes fabricated by...

Harnessing Bioluminescent Bacteria to Develop an Enzymatic-free Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the Detection of Clinically Relevant Biomarkers

Liming Hu, Marianna Rossetti, José Francisco Bergua, Claudio Parolo, Ruslan Álvarez-Diduk, Lourdes Rivas, Andrea Idili*, and Arben Merkoçi*. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is the gold standard technique for measuring protein biomarkers due to its high sensitivity, specificity, and throughput. Despite its success, continuous advancements in ELISA and immunoassay formats are crucial to meet evolving global challenges and to address new analytical needs in diverse...

Capacitive immunosensing at gold nanoparticle-decorated reduced graphene oxide electrodes fabricated by one-step laser nanostructuration

Danilo Echeverri, Enric Calucho, Jose Marrugo-Ramírez, Ruslán Álvarez-Diduk*, Jahir Orozco, Arben Merkoçi*. Biosensors and Bioelectronics
Nanostructured electrochemical biosensors have ushered in a new era of diagnostic precision, offering enhanced sensitivity and specificity for clinical biomarker detection. Among them, capacitive biosensing enables ultrasensitive label-free detection of multiple molecular targets. However, the complexity and cost associated with...