Proyectos de Investigación


  • 20220103

  • Análisis de la viabilidad técnica de la detección de virus aerotransportados mediante espectroscopía nanomecánica – VIROMECH (PDC2022-133944-I00)


    The goal of VIROMECH is to determine the technical feasibility of the application of nanomechanical spectrometry, i.e., the identification of nanoparticle analytes by their mechanical properties, to the detection with real-time infectivity assessment of airborne viruses. The project aims to provide proof of concept of a technological approach that integrates state of the art viral aerosol sampling technology, based upon aerosol to hydrosol collection, concentration and purification, with the measurement of the mass and stiffness of the collected viruses by nanomechanical flexural beam resonators, where the viruses are adsorbed after being delivered from the collected liquid suspension by electrospray ionization and aerolens focusing. The measurement of mass and stiffness of individual viruses by reading out the frequency shift response of nanomechanical resonators upon virus adsorption will enable their untargeted detection by harnessing the distinctive distribution patterns of these properties, without the need of specific bioreceptors. The radical innovation of exploiting the existing correlations between virus infectivity and stiffness will open an unprecedented approach for virus infectivity assessment in real time, an information not given by the most advanced nucleic-acid detection techniques such as quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and without the need of highly time-consuming cell culture assays, which take up to weeks, depending on the virus type, to provide infectivity information. Although the scientific basis of the pursued application has already been studied and it is solidly supported by many scientific research results, including those from the National Project EXOFLUX from which VIROMECH is derived, proof of concept (TRL3) and validation in laboratory conditions (TRL4) have not been achieved. VIROMECH pursues these objectives by focusing on two specific aspects that require demonstration of their technical feasibility: i) the preservation of virus infectivity during analyte transfer from solution to the surface of the nanomechanical sensors, and ii) the simultaneous optimization of mass and stiffness sensing performance of prototype sensing devices for discerning among infectious/non-infectious viruses. Achieving these objectives will derive in two potential products of great interest in the general areas of bioaerosol science and technology and microbiology, such as an instrument capable of efficiently transfer fragile organic/microbiological analytes from solution to any kind of micro/nanodevice with a small sensitive area, and nanomechanical sensors to characterize the mass and stiffness of viruses for the specific application of airborne virus detection. The implementation of the exploitation and intellectual property protection strategies considered in VIROMECH will facilitate to bring those products closer to suitable markets. The advances pursued by the technological application envisioned in VIROMECH will enable the long- term development of on-site deployable systems capable of rapid, unmanned, ultrasensitive detection of infectious airborne viruses relying on low-cost disposable sensors that allow indoor air monitoring for controlling infectious outbreaks, triggering warning alerts at concentration levels and exposure times below the thresholds for host-to-host airborne transmission, minimizing the social and economic effects of future pandemics.
  • 20220102

  • Plataforma de fenotipado optomecánico de células cancerosas – ONCOLIGHT


    ONCOLIGHT responds to the demand of reliable, high-throughput, single-cell technologies for cancer subtype classification and for testing of cancer drugs or drug combinations is those cancer sub-types. The Project of Origin CELLTANGLE RTI2018-099369-B-I00, titled Mechano-Inertial Phenotyping of Cancer Cells successfully developed instrumentation for the investigation of cell mechanics able to discriminate cancer cells from healthy cells by
    means of new physical biomarkers, in particular mass, density and optical properties. The present Proof-of-Concept Project ONCOLIGHT has the goal to advance the technology and methods obtained in CELLTANGLE from TRL3 (experimental proof of concept, done in CELLTANGLE) to TRL4 (technology validated in lab for the intended application) and starting the route to fully achieve TRL5 by transferring the technology to research and clinical oncologists. ONCOLIGHT will also accelerate the market entry of the results and technologies obtained and protected through the national and international patents derived from the aforementioned source project CELLTANGLE, as well as two new patents envisioned as a result of this Proof-of-concept project ONCOLIGHT. The commercial innovation of the device lies in the following aspects: 1) A new concept of cell sorting: several physical parameters of cells measured in vivo. 2) A new technology: transparent hollow resonators allow the measurement of mass, density and optical properties of individual cells. Cells are measured in flow, at a rate of 300 cells/minute, making it a high-throughput technique. 3) Application to a targeted goal: breast cancer cell classification and follow-up of cancer drug effect through cell biophysical parameters. The figures of merit of the optonanomechanical flow cytometer we aim at advancing towards commercialization will open the way for portable tests that could prove useful as a generally accepted technique for determining the health status of cells from blood samples (leukemia, circulating tumour cells) or from re-suspended solid biopsies of tissue. As an added innovation, the interaction of cell samples with the chemical environment can be studied in real time, so ONCOLIGHT devices will be a new single-cell in-vitro tool for the study of the effectiveness of drugs, as well as for the evaluation of their toxicity in human cells.
  • 20220101

  • VirAir – 101034583-H2020-EU.1.2.1.-Nanomechanical spectrometry as an early alert system of the presence of airborne pathogens in critical settings


    Hospitals pose a great risk for contracting infections often caused by more virulent or drug-resistant microorganisms. Preventing the spread requires an in-depth understanding of the transmission route of the pathogens. The EU-funded VirAIR project aims to bring to the clinic the first optomechanical device for the detection and identification of viruses in air and liquid samples. Airborne organisms are particularly dangerous as they can be directly inhaled or indirectly transmitted to patients through surfaces. Preliminary results are very promising, and in light of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the VirAIR device may serve as an alert system for preventative medicine in hospital units.
  • 20211201

  • Plataforma (Oncodeeplasm) para inmunoensayos optoplasmónicos ultrasensibles para la detección temprana del cáncer de mama basada en biomarcadores de proteínas en la región profunda del proteoma sanguíneo. PLEC2021-007892 / AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ Unión Europea NextGenerationEU/PRTR


    Plataforma (Oncodeeplasm) para inmunoensayos optoplasmónicos ultrasensibles para la detección temprana del cáncer de mama basada en biomarcadores de proteínas en la región profunda del proteoma sanguíneo
  • 20210701

Últimas Noticias

  • Las células vivas exhiben resonancias mecánicas

    El grupo de Bionanomecánica ha logrado un avance significativo en la comprensión de las propiedades mecánicas de las células humanas: ha demostrado con éxito que las células vivas, específicamente las células epiteliales de mama humanas, exhiben resonancias mecánicas, un fenómeno previamente considerado poco plausible debido a la extraordinaria viscosidad y complejidad de las células en…

Grupo de Bionanomecánica
Instituto de Micro y Nanotecnología
PTM – C/Isaac Newton, 8
28760 – Tres Cantos – MADRID
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Fax. (+ 34) 91 806 07 01