" Micro/nanomaterials in biomolecular sensing".

by Lorena Manzanares, Junior Professor at Centrale Lille and IEMN.

December, 10th (Thu) 11:00 am , at the IEMN Amphitheatre

We invite you to attend this seminar as part of the "Technologies for Health" and "Materials" flagships.


ABSTRACT

his seminar explores several ways in which micro- and nanomaterials can be used in biosensing, focusing on their roles in electrochemical and optical systems. On the electrochemical side, I will discuss my experience using biofunctionalized superparamagnetic microparticles in DNA sensors and the benefits of that approach for real-sample analysis. Next, I will present our work on 3D-printed graphene/polymer electrodes, where we transformed printed (plastic) objects into highly sensitive electroanalytical platforms, demonstrating several proof-of-principle sensing applications. Moving beyond electrochemistry, I will introduce how 2D materials, such as graphene and its derivatives, are employed in fluorescence sensing, using DNA detection as a prime example. I will then highlight our research on MXenes (known as " hydrophilic metals ", composed of 2D early transition metal carbides, nitrides and/or carbonitrides), focusing on their unique interactions with DNA and understanding their distance-dependent quenching behavior using single-molecule techniques and DNA nanostructures. Building on these findings, we currently exploit MXene-based nonradiative energy transfer to achieve precise nanoscale measurements with fluorescence microscopy. This approach not only allows us to study nanoscale biological phenomena, such as leaflet-resolved sensing in lipid bilayers (biomembrane models) at the single molecule level, but it can also be used for characterizing 2D materials with high resolution (nanocharacterization). The seminar concludes with ongoing efforts at IEMN within the Chaire de Professeur Junior (CPJ) scheme, where we aim to integrate these biosensing advancements, particularly 2D materials and DNA nanotech, with AIMAN FILMS's acoustic technologies to develop diagnostic devices for breast cancer.