ReSEARCH BAM


OMEGA - Online Monitoring: Electrochemiluminescence based Gated Assay
Projektleitung
	Dr. rer. nat. Knut Rurack BAM - 1.9 Chemische und optische Sensorik E-Mail: Knut.Rurack@bam.de ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5589-5548 Researcher-ID: B-1079-2009
Förderstruktur
	EU - Europäische Kommission - H2020 - Marie S. Curie - Individual Fellowship (IF) - MSCA-IF-2020
Projektbeginn
	01.09.2021
Projektende
	31.08.2023
Projektart
	Realisierte Antragsforschung
Themen-/Aktivitätsfeld
	THEMENFELD Analytical Sciences, * Sensorik
Abstract
	To find new and better ways to detect and monitor contamination of water, food and the environment as early as possible directly at the site of impact is one of the most pressing tasks for researchers today. Early detection of and strategic monitoring to trace contamination of water is therefore crucial. This emphasizes the need for sensitive, robust, portable and affordable (especially for low-income countries) analysis tools that can report directly at site on the concentration of a target contaminant. Detecting contamination early means that these small, mobile analytical devices have to indicate analytes at very low concentrations with reliable uncertainty and accuracy, to avoid false positives and foster acceptance of such tools by relevant user groups like public employees. In this project, I will address this need relying on the integration of microfluidics, gated delivery systems, magnetic beads and electrochemiluminescence (ECL) detection. ECL is a detection method that operates against a zero background and gated delivery systems exhibit inherent features of signal amplification. A combination of both strategies with the versatile handling and miniaturization capabilities of magnetic beads and microfluidics promises to yield user-friendly, affordable and robust analytical devices with unprecedented performance for the reliable quantification of analytes at ultra-trace levels (ppb and below) directly onsite at the point-of-need. By matching my expertise in electrochemistry and microfluidics with the host’s expertise in gated delivery systems, magnetic beads, luminescence spectroscopy and device integration, I have the unique opportunity to receive training in various other disciplines, including metrology, that allow me to broaden my field of knowledge and to better shape the outline of my future career as a high-level (bio)analytical scientist.