EPFL BioE Talks SERIES "Toward Ubiquitous NanoBiosensing: Sustainable Devices Powering the Future of Point-of-Care Diagnostics"
Event details
| Date | 20.04.2026 |
| Hour | 12:15 › 13:15 |
| Speaker |
Prof. Arben Merkoçi, Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ICN2), Bellaterra (Barcelona) Spain |
| Location | Online |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | English |
WEEKLY EPFL BIOE TALKS SERIES (sandwiches provided)
Abstract:
Nanobiosensors have long promised to move advanced diagnostics beyond centralized laboratories and into the hands of users, communities, and environments where they are most urgently needed. After decades of rapid progress in nanomaterials and sensing performance, the field now stands at a pivotal moment: the challenge is no longer whether we can detect with extraordinary sensitivity, but whether we can do so in ways that are sustainable, scalable, and globally accessible.
This talk envisions a future in which point-of-care biosensing becomes an integral part of everyday life through the coupling of advanced nanomaterials with sustainable platforms. Paper-based substrates and environmentally friendly fabrication methods, such as inkjet printing and stamping, enable a new paradigm of decentralized manufacturing, one that supports rapid deployment during global health emergencies, continuous environmental monitoring, and personalized, wearable healthcare.
By integrating biorecognition elements, including antibodies and nucleic-acid–based receptors such as DNA probes and aptamers with functional nanomaterials, including metallic nanoparticles, quantum dots, and two-dimensional materials, these biosensors achieve high sensitivity and specificity while remaining robust outside traditional laboratory settings. REASSURED-guided design, focusing on real-time connectivity, ease of use, affordability, sensitivity, specificity, rapid and user-friendly results, minimal equipment, and deliverability, ensures devices are intuitive, cost-effective, and provide actionable information in real time, often via visual or smartphone-based readouts.
Spanning applications from infectious disease surveillance and cancer diagnostics to neurodegenerative disease monitoring and water quality assessment, this work highlights a transformative shift: from isolated diagnostic tools to ubiquitous sensing ecosystems. Ultimately, sustainable nanobiosensors offer a pathway toward more resilient healthcare systems, empowered communities, and a future where access to critical information is no longer constrained by infrastructure or geography.
Bio:
ICREA Research Professor and leader of the ICN2 Nanobioelectronics and Biosensors Group, Arben Merkoçi obtained his PhD at the University of Tirana (Albania) working with in ion selective electrodes. Since 1992 he has carried out research as postdoctoral fellow and research professor at the Polytechnic University of Budapest (Hungary), University of Ioannina (Greece), Università degli Studi di Padova (Italy), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and New Mexico State University (USA). His research is focused on the integration of biological molecules and other species with micro- and nanostructures to design novel (bio)sensors.
Prof. Arben Merkoçi is member of the Academy of Sciences of Albania and director and coordinator of NANOBALKAN (www.nanobalkan.al), the Regional Center of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. He is member of the European Academy of Sciences (EURASC, 2024), Member of Institute of Catalan Studies and Academy of Sciences of Bologna Institute.
Prof. Merkoçi has been Member of the ALLEA Working Group on the European Research Area and Chair of the ERA’s Working Group of the European Federation of Academies of Sciences. He is Member of Advisory Council of Research Expertise from the Academic Diaspora (READ), founded in 2021 by the Albanian-American Development Foundation. He has been member of The Accreditation Board of Quality Assurance Agency in Higher Education of Albania during 4 years.
He is Co-Editor in Chief of Biosensors and Bioelectronics, Elsevier journal, the most important international journal in biosensors. Also, he is member of W&T3 Project panel on Condensed Matter of Research Foundation Flanders (FWO, Belgium, 2024); of FIS 2 Selection Committee - sector PE4 (Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca”, Italy, 2024); of the ERC Starting Grant Call 2021-2024 (EU Commission, Brussels); of the External Scientific Advisory Committee of The Institute for Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia (IQAC, Barcelona, Spain, 2022-now); of the Scientific Board of Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials (RCPTM/CATRIN Olomouc, Check Republic, acting every year since 2018 to now)
Prof. Merkoçi has published 375 scientific articles and supervised 40 PhD theses. He is also involved in teaching PhD courses in the field of nanomaterial- based biosensors in several Spanish and international centres. He has been a member of the commission for establishing the new Nanoscience and Nanotechnology undergraduate academic curriculum at the UAB, the first one in Spain, which started during the academic year 2010- 2011. He is a member of the Academics Working Group of BIST and coordinator of the Nanodiagnostics module of the Nanotechnology Master at the UAB.
He has got several national and international grants related to nanomaterials application in biosensors and his group is collaborating with several worldwide leading labs in the field of nanobiosensors. Prof. Merkoçi serves also as scientific evaluator and member of panels of experts of various international governmental and nongovernmental agencies (EU-FP and EU-ERC panels and other panels in Europe, USA and other countries), as a scientific committee member of many international congresses, director of several workshops and other scientific events and have been invited to give plenary lectures, keynote and invited speeches in more than 250 occasions in various countries. Prof. Merkoçi is the co-founder of two spin-off companies: GraphenicaLab, devoted to graphene patterning, and PaperDiagnostis, dedicated to clinical diagnostics.
Read more about Prof. Merkoçi’s CV at:
https://www.icrea.cat/community/icreas/17615/arben-merkoci/
https://www.nanobiosensors.org/group-leader/
https://icn2.cat/en/nanobioelectronics-and-biosensors-group/arben-merkoci
Zoom link (with one-time registration for the whole series) for attending remotely: https://go.epfl.ch/EPFLBioETalks
Instructions for 1st-year Ph.D. students planning to attend this talk, who are under EDBB’s mandatory seminar attendance rule:
IN CASE you cannot attend in-person in the room, please make sure to
Abstract:
Nanobiosensors have long promised to move advanced diagnostics beyond centralized laboratories and into the hands of users, communities, and environments where they are most urgently needed. After decades of rapid progress in nanomaterials and sensing performance, the field now stands at a pivotal moment: the challenge is no longer whether we can detect with extraordinary sensitivity, but whether we can do so in ways that are sustainable, scalable, and globally accessible.
This talk envisions a future in which point-of-care biosensing becomes an integral part of everyday life through the coupling of advanced nanomaterials with sustainable platforms. Paper-based substrates and environmentally friendly fabrication methods, such as inkjet printing and stamping, enable a new paradigm of decentralized manufacturing, one that supports rapid deployment during global health emergencies, continuous environmental monitoring, and personalized, wearable healthcare.
By integrating biorecognition elements, including antibodies and nucleic-acid–based receptors such as DNA probes and aptamers with functional nanomaterials, including metallic nanoparticles, quantum dots, and two-dimensional materials, these biosensors achieve high sensitivity and specificity while remaining robust outside traditional laboratory settings. REASSURED-guided design, focusing on real-time connectivity, ease of use, affordability, sensitivity, specificity, rapid and user-friendly results, minimal equipment, and deliverability, ensures devices are intuitive, cost-effective, and provide actionable information in real time, often via visual or smartphone-based readouts.
Spanning applications from infectious disease surveillance and cancer diagnostics to neurodegenerative disease monitoring and water quality assessment, this work highlights a transformative shift: from isolated diagnostic tools to ubiquitous sensing ecosystems. Ultimately, sustainable nanobiosensors offer a pathway toward more resilient healthcare systems, empowered communities, and a future where access to critical information is no longer constrained by infrastructure or geography.
Bio:
ICREA Research Professor and leader of the ICN2 Nanobioelectronics and Biosensors Group, Arben Merkoçi obtained his PhD at the University of Tirana (Albania) working with in ion selective electrodes. Since 1992 he has carried out research as postdoctoral fellow and research professor at the Polytechnic University of Budapest (Hungary), University of Ioannina (Greece), Università degli Studi di Padova (Italy), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and New Mexico State University (USA). His research is focused on the integration of biological molecules and other species with micro- and nanostructures to design novel (bio)sensors.
Prof. Arben Merkoçi is member of the Academy of Sciences of Albania and director and coordinator of NANOBALKAN (www.nanobalkan.al), the Regional Center of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. He is member of the European Academy of Sciences (EURASC, 2024), Member of Institute of Catalan Studies and Academy of Sciences of Bologna Institute.
Prof. Merkoçi has been Member of the ALLEA Working Group on the European Research Area and Chair of the ERA’s Working Group of the European Federation of Academies of Sciences. He is Member of Advisory Council of Research Expertise from the Academic Diaspora (READ), founded in 2021 by the Albanian-American Development Foundation. He has been member of The Accreditation Board of Quality Assurance Agency in Higher Education of Albania during 4 years.
He is Co-Editor in Chief of Biosensors and Bioelectronics, Elsevier journal, the most important international journal in biosensors. Also, he is member of W&T3 Project panel on Condensed Matter of Research Foundation Flanders (FWO, Belgium, 2024); of FIS 2 Selection Committee - sector PE4 (Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca”, Italy, 2024); of the ERC Starting Grant Call 2021-2024 (EU Commission, Brussels); of the External Scientific Advisory Committee of The Institute for Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia (IQAC, Barcelona, Spain, 2022-now); of the Scientific Board of Regional Centre of Advanced Technologies and Materials (RCPTM/CATRIN Olomouc, Check Republic, acting every year since 2018 to now)
Prof. Merkoçi has published 375 scientific articles and supervised 40 PhD theses. He is also involved in teaching PhD courses in the field of nanomaterial- based biosensors in several Spanish and international centres. He has been a member of the commission for establishing the new Nanoscience and Nanotechnology undergraduate academic curriculum at the UAB, the first one in Spain, which started during the academic year 2010- 2011. He is a member of the Academics Working Group of BIST and coordinator of the Nanodiagnostics module of the Nanotechnology Master at the UAB.
He has got several national and international grants related to nanomaterials application in biosensors and his group is collaborating with several worldwide leading labs in the field of nanobiosensors. Prof. Merkoçi serves also as scientific evaluator and member of panels of experts of various international governmental and nongovernmental agencies (EU-FP and EU-ERC panels and other panels in Europe, USA and other countries), as a scientific committee member of many international congresses, director of several workshops and other scientific events and have been invited to give plenary lectures, keynote and invited speeches in more than 250 occasions in various countries. Prof. Merkoçi is the co-founder of two spin-off companies: GraphenicaLab, devoted to graphene patterning, and PaperDiagnostis, dedicated to clinical diagnostics.
Read more about Prof. Merkoçi’s CV at:
https://www.icrea.cat/community/icreas/17615/arben-merkoci/
https://www.nanobiosensors.org/group-leader/
https://icn2.cat/en/nanobioelectronics-and-biosensors-group/arben-merkoci
Zoom link (with one-time registration for the whole series) for attending remotely: https://go.epfl.ch/EPFLBioETalks
Instructions for 1st-year Ph.D. students planning to attend this talk, who are under EDBB’s mandatory seminar attendance rule:
IN CASE you cannot attend in-person in the room, please make sure to
- send Fiorella Ghisays a note well ahead of time (ideally before seminar day), informing that you plan to attend the talk online, and, during seminar:
- be signed in on Zoom with a recognizable user name (not any alias making it difficult or impossible to identify you).
Practical information
- Informed public
- Registration required
Organizer
- Prof. Hatice Altug, Institute of Bioengineering
Contact
- Institute of Bioengineering (IBI), Fiorella Ghisays