Biosensors for bioengineering

The Biosensors for bioengineering group is a senior group under ICREA’s Tenure Track scheme.

Organs-on-a-chip (OOC) refers to a technology that involves creating microscale devices that mimic the structure and function of human organs. These «chips» are typically composed of living cells arranged on a microfluidic platform, allowing researchers to simulate the complex interactions and physiological responses within a specific organ. 

The goal of Organs-on-a-chip (OOC) technology is to provide a more accurate and representative model of human organs compared to traditional in vitro cell cultures or animal testing. By replicating the microenvironment of organs and incorporating various cell types, organs-on-a-chip can help researchers study the effects of drugs, toxins, and diseases in a more realistic and controlled manner. 

Each organ-on-a-chip device is designed to replicate the unique characteristics of a particular organ, such as the liver, pancreas or skeletal muscle. These miniature systems enable researchers to observe and analyze how different substances and conditions affect cellular behavior, tissue function, and overall organ responses. The technology holds promise for drug development, disease modeling, and toxicology studies, offering a more ethical and efficient alternative to traditional methods. 

Our research on OOC development has clear goals. We want OOC platforms to be easy to use and more automation to set up cell cultures. This will help more people use them, making experiments quicker and more reliable. 

We’re working on creating a simple platform for growing microtissues in 3D. This makes OOC research easier to use in the real world, moving from lab tests to practical applications. We also want to improve the user experience by making OOC platforms more friendly, compatible, and ready for use. 

As OOC research moves from labs to real-world use, we want to help users deal with biological challenges. We’re developing an easy-to-use 3D tissue platform and a simple bioreactor that works with sensing technology. This helps users focus on solving biological problems, validating models, and finding potential medicines. We’re also adding sensors to make the bioreactor even more effective. 

Our efforts make it easier for researchers to study how organs interact. Our second goal focuses on studying more complex disease models. This helps us understand diseases better and find ways to treat them. We believe that OOCs help in three main ways: understanding diseases, making better medicines faster, and supporting personalized research using cells from individual patients. OOCs can be a solution for studying rare diseases where other methods are not available. 

Our third goal is to standardize OOC platforms, making them work together better. This involves creating common rules and standards for everyone to follow. This makes collaboration and sharing information easier. 

Finally, our lab is working towards making OOCs suitable for high-throughput screening. This means making them simpler and adding good models for studying diseases. In short, we’re making OOC development more user-friendly, accessible, and technologically advanced. This simplification helps in biological research and finding new medical solutions. 

• 3D microstructures on hydrogel materials
• Mini-bioreactor for 3D cell culture
• Microelectrodes fabrication
• Synthesis and chemical modification of polymers and surfaces
• Dielectrophoretic cells and micro particles manipulation

Characterization techniques:

• Optical Microscopes (white light/epifluorescence)
• Electrochemical techniques (Potentiometric/Amperometric/Impedance spectroscopy)
• Immunosensing techniques (Fluorescence ELISA/Colorimetric ELISA/magneto ELISA)

Equipment:

• Microfluidic systems (High precision syringe pumps/Peristaltic pumps/Micro valves)
• Biological safety cabinet (class II)
• Epifluorescence microscope for live-cell imaging
• Pulsar – a high-resolution, 60MHz benchtop NMR spectrometer from Oxford Instruments

Access to the Nanotechnology Platform (IBEC Core Facilities): equipment for hot embossing lithography, polymer processing and photolithography, chemical wet etching, e-beam evaporation and surface characterization (TOF-SIMS)
Access to the Scientific and Technological Centers (University of Barcelona): equipment for surface analysis (XPS, AFM, XRD), organic structures characterization (NMR) and microscopy techniques (SEM, TEM, confocal)

We collaborated closely with Professor Ruben Artero from Instituto de Investigaciones Clínicas de Valencia (INCLIVA) and medical doctor Vilchez from Hospital de la Fe (Valencia). We develop muscle-on-a-chip devices using 3D tissue cultures and biosensors. During my career, I established national and international collaborations with other researchers, clinicians, and companies. This is reflected by the fact that I attracted competitive funding awarded by the prestigious entity Medical Research Council (UK), focused on studying Duchenne’s rare disease. I also collaborate on projects with more clinical groups and hospitals, e.g., Hospital de Sant Pau (Barcelona). With senior professor Eduard Gallardo’s group, we are developing human microtissues to study the myasthenia gravis neuromuscular rare disease. 

Following the translational nature of my research, I recently became the entrepreneurial scientist of a valorisation project financed by Producte Call (AGAUR) to bring to the market plasmonic biosensors for Myasthenia Gravis diagnosis. I actively collaborate with patient associations such as «Duchenne Parent Project » and «Asociación Conquistando Escalones,» and with national and international companies such as Arthex biotech, SOM biotech, BI/OND (The Netherlands), and BioEmTech (Greece). I have also established contacts with the industry to develop new technology with a high impact on clinical diagnosis and drug development. Specifically, we collaborate with Grifols (Spain), Multivawe (Switzerland), Oxford Instrument (UK) and NovoNordisk (Denmark). This last collaboration aims to develop new biomaterials for cell therapies. I have also established contacts with the industry to develop new technology with a high impact on clinical diagnosis and drug development, specifically collaborating with Multiwave (Switzerland) and Oxford Instrument (United Kingdom). I am also co-founder of a spin-off company, Vitala.