Diagnostic Nanotools (DINA)
At Diagnostic Nanotools, we work to ameliorate the diagnosis of diseases. On the one hand, we produce rapid assays and electrochemical biosensors, with a special emphasis on point-of-care diagnosis of infectious diseases.
In this context, we develop single-step immunoassays, classical biosensors (in which a sensor is modified with bioreceptors for the specific detection of the analyte of interest) and magneto-biosensors (in which the assay is performed on magnetic particles). We explore the implementation of nanomaterials to obtain improved transducers and as signal amplifiers to generate faster and more sensitive biosensors. We also seek to automate the tests using extremely simple and economical paper microfluidics. On the other hand, we are developing "synthrocytes," a synthetic reagent that could replace animal erythrocytes in the hemagglutination assays used currently for the global surveillance of influenza viruses and in the control of vaccine production.