Tag Archive for: QCMD

Scientific publication

High Frequency (100, 150 MHz) Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) Piezoelectric Genosensor for the Determination of the Escherichia coli O157 rfbE Gene

Authors: Kaory Barrientos, María Isabel Rocha, Marisol Jaramillo and Neil Aldrín Vásquez.
Journal: Analytical Letters (2022)

 

Abstract

Escherichia coli O157 (E. coli O157) is responsible for outbreaks of high morbidity in food-borne infections. The development of sensitive, reliable, and selective detection systems is of great importance in food safety. In this work, two high fundamental frequency (HFF) piezoelectric genosensors (100 and 150 MHz) were designed and validated for the rfbE gene detection, which encodes O-antigen in E. coli O157. HFF resonators offer improved sensitivity, small sample volumes, and the possibility of integration into lab-on-a-chip devices, but their sensing capabilities have not yet been fully explored. This HFF-QCM genosensor uses the method of physisorption based on the union between the streptavidin and the biotin to immobilize the genetic bioreceptor on the surface and detect its hybridization with the target sequence. Parameters such as molecular coating, specificity, and variability were tested to enhance its performance. Although both genosensors evaluated are able to determine the target, the 100 MHz device has a higher response to the analyte than the 150 MHz platform. This is the first step in the development of an HFF-QCM genosensor that may be used as a trial test of E. coli O157 in large batches of samples.

 

You may read the full paper here.

AWSensors, participante en el Programa Xpande 2022

30/03/2022. Advanced Wave Sensors S.L. (AWSensors) continúa trabajando en su estrategia de internacionalización. Durante los próximos meses, contaremos con el apoyo de un asesor especializado de la Cámara de Comercio de Valencia, en el marco del Programa Xpande 2022, para la elaboración de un Plan de Internacionalización encaminado a abrir nuevos mercados donde comercializar nuestros equipos de instrumentación de sensores acústicos (Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation monitoring, QCMD, de sus siglas en inglés), así como mejorar la competitividad global.

AWSensors ha sido beneficiaria del Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional cuyo objetivo es mejorar la competitividad de las Pymes y gracias al cual ha puesto en marcha un Plan de Internacionalización con el objetivo de mejorar su posicionamiento competitivo en el exterior durante el año 2022. Para ello ha contado con el apoyo del Programa XPANDE de la Cámara de Comercio de Valencia.

Una manera de hacer Europa

 

Cámara-Comercio-España

Cámara-Comercio-Valencia

Internacionalización-Valencia

The difference the “D” makes in QCMD

AWSensors presents a new Technology Note on the importance of dissipation measuring when working with QCMD: “The difference the “D” makes in QCMD”.

Dissipation

What is dissipation, and why it is useful?

Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation, or QCMD, is having a tremendous impact on research in the soft and biological interfaces fields because of its versatility and the wealth of information it provides. In this Technology Note, we discuss the origins of dissipation in the different systems studied by QCMD, from complex fluids and polymer films to biomolecular and particle assemblies, and the information dissipation can provide, from characterizing viscoelasticity to studying molecular conformation.

In this Technical Note we discuss the origins of dissipation, how it can be used to verify the applicability of the Sauerbrey relationship and their interaction with the viscoelasticity and in the biological sensing.

 


Download the Full Technology Note

You can read and download the full Technology Note in pdf file from this link. A list of our Technology Notes can be found on our Technology Web Page..

 

 

AWSensors participa en el programa Becas E+E de IVACE

Siguiendo con la estrategia de internacionalización de AWSensors, la empresa incorpora a Nuria Portolés Cervera al equipo de Ventas y Marketing dentro del marco de su participación en el programa de Becas E+E – Exportación y Empleo 2021 del Instituto Valenciano de Competitividad Empresarial (IVACE). Durante 8 meses, Nuria cumplirá con un plan formativo en Comercio Exterior y contribuirá con su trabajo en la internacionalización y promoción de la marca y productos QCMD de AWSensors a nivel internacional.

El pasado 28 de diciembre de 2021 se otorgaron los destinos donde las personas becadas en este programa, como Nuria, realizan su formación práctica. Este acto institucional, que estuvo presidido por el Molt Honorable Sr. Ximo Puig, Presidente de la Generalitat Valenciana, y por el Conseller de Economía Sostenible, Sectores Productivos, Comercio y Trabajo, el Sr. Rafael Climent, tuvo lugar en el Palau de la Generalitat.

Nuria Portolés

El programa de Becas E+E está gestionado por IVACE y financiado por el Fondo Social Europeo, dentro de la Iniciativa de empleo juvenil. El programa tiene por objetivo proporcionar una formación profesional en Comercio Exterior a las personas participantes, así como de dotar de más herramientas a las entidades y empresas participantes que sirvan de apoyo en su internacionalización.

 

 

Fuente: https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1OdKrBMzpneKX

QCMD workshop training

Hands-on Training Workshop on QCMD at IMBB-FORTH, Greece

AWSensors ran a successful hands-on training workshop at the Gizeli group at IMBB FORTH in Crete, Greece. Undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdocs were invited to attend the session and learned how to use our X1 QCMD instrument and Love-SAW devices. During the workshop, participants had the opportunity to understand how to effectively utilize these acoustic sensing technologies for their research. Building on their core expertise in molecular biology and biophysics, the Gizeli group is exploring biosensing applications in human, animal, and plant disease diagnostics as well as pathogen and environmental pollutant detection. The training helped researchers in the group exploit the unique advantages of AWSensors’ equipment, such as sensitivity, time resolution, flexibility, integrated flow control, and ease of use, for biosensor development.

manufacturing

AWSensors cooperation with UPVfab

AWSensors, one of the first spin-off companies to emerge from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), sees a space for cooperation with UPVfab. Located at the Polytechnic City of Innovation (UPV’s Science Park), UPVfab is a breakthrough project, counting with a ~500 m2 clean room space and equipped with high-tech instruments, with applications in the areas of research in Photonics, Electronics and Chemistry.

In this initiative participate five research institutes located at the UPV: the Institute of Telecommunications and Multimedia Applications (iTEAM), the Instituto de Tecnología Quimica (ITQ-CSIC), the Instituto de Instrumentación para Imagen Molecular (I3M, UPV-CSIC), el Center for Research and Innovation in Bioengineering, and the Interuniversity Research Institute for Molecular Recognition and Technological Development (IDM) (IDM, UPV-UV).

However, this new project not only seeks to support academic research, but to strengthen its cooperation with industry partners as well. Prof. Antonio Arnau, full professor at UPV’s Department of Electronic Engineering and founder of AWSensors, acknowledges the importance of having these kind of installations that would make possible to validate new developments based on AWSensors’ proprietary array Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation (QCMD) biosensor technology. The company is already testing this technology in Healthcare applications, as an instrument for precision medicine through fast and simple diagnosis of cancer mutations for a personalized treatment and monitoring of its evolution.

AWSensors is always interested in productive public and private partnerships that help us further the developments in QCMD devices, sensors, and applications of interest.

 

Source: https://valenciaplaza.com/upv-crea-sala-limpia-investigar-fotonica-electronica-quimica

AWSensors expande sus mercados

20/09/2021. Advanced Wave Sensors S.L. (AWSensors) continúa trabajando en su estrategia de internacionalización. Durante los próximos meses, trabajaremos nuestra estrategia digital para ayudar a dar a conocer nuestros equipos de instrumentación de sensores acústicos (Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation monitoring, QCMD, de sus siglas en inglés) a investigadores en instituciones canadienses y así, aumentar nuestra presencia en dicho mercado.

AWSensors ha sido beneficiaria del Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional cuyo objetivo es mejorar la competitividad de las Pymes y gracias al cual ha puesto en marcha un Plan de Internacionalización con el objetivo de mejorar su posicionamiento competitivo en el exterior durante el año 2021. Para ello ha contado con el apoyo del Programa XPANDE de la Cámara de Comercio de Valencia.

 


QCMD webinar

QCM-D Webinar

May 24th 2021: AWSensors is pleased to invite you to participate in a QCM-D Scientific Webinar its Distributor Technex, in the BENELUX area, and AWSensors are orginizing. The scientific talk is entitled “Studying Soft Interfaces with Shear Waves: Principles and Applications of the Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM-D)” and  will be given by Prof. Diethelm Johannsmann.

 

QCMD Webinar

QCM-D Webinar details

The webinar will take place on Thursday, June 10th, 2021 from 15:00 to 16:30 hrs and it will be free of charge.

To join us, please register on this link: http://eepurl.com/gDLYUD and we will send you the Webinar details.

Speaker’s Short Biography

Diethelm Johannsmann is Professor of Physical Chemistry and the director of the Physical Chemistry Institute at Clausthal University of Technology, Germany. He has made fundamental contributions to the subject of QCM(D), reflected in more than 150 articles, several book chapters, and books. His model is widely used in the analysis of QCM-D data, and he developed free software for QCM-D data analysis and modelling.  You can find more information about his work on his website, https://www.pc.tu-clausthal.de/en/research/johannsmann-group/prof-dr-diethelm-johannsmann/.

 

QCMD Immunosensor

New QCMD Immunosensor Application Note

May 20th 2021: AWSensors is pleased to invite you to take a look to its new Immunosensor Application Note entitled “QCMD immunosensor for small molecule analytes“.

Summary of the Note

A QCMD-based immunoassay for label-free analysis of small molecule concentration in industrial samples was developed using an AWS QCMD system with surface-modified 5 MHz fundamental frequency QCMD sensors. Accuracy and precision of the immunoassay is evaluated with respect to the industry-standard HPLC reference.

QCMD Immunosensor

Introduction

Accurate, rapid, and cost-effective quantification of small molecule analytes is a pressing problem in various industrial (food, agriculture, environmental protection) and health-related fields. Existing approaches include enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) and various types of chromatography (e.g., High Performance Liquid Chromatography, HPLC). These approaches require trained personal and centralized laboratories, and their deployment in the field is difficult or impossible.

Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation, or QCMD, is emerging as a promising technology for the development of fast, portable, automated, and cost-effective immunosensors. Here, we demonstrate a competitive small molecule immunoassay based on the AWSensors QCMD technology.


Download Full Application Note

You can download the full Application Note in pdf file from this link or download it from our Applications Web Page where you can find this and the rest of our Application Notes.

Other references

Antibodies

Antibody Detection with Quartz Crystal Microbalance

May 10th 2021: AWSensors offers acoustic sensors for antibody detection. Acoustic biosensor-based immunosensing with  High-Fundamental Frequency Quartz Crystal Microbalance (HFF-QCM) and Love-SAW sensors offers several advantages over Enzyme Linked Immuno Assay (ELISA) or Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR).

Acoustic sensors antibody detection advantages over ELISA

  • Sensitivity approximately as a standard ELISA or better.
  • Acoustic sensors offer label-free detection of the antibody-antigen binding.
  • Full automation.
  • Pre-calibrated (the user does not need to run the standards. More samples can be run. Reduced cost per sample).
  • Speed.
  • Quantitative real-time /in-situ monitoring.
  • Turn-key solution (no need to specialized detection equipment, reader, or spectrophotometer).
  • Reduced complexity, relaxed requirements for trained personnel.
  • Small volumes (~ 10 of ul per sample).
  • Parallelization and multiple analyte detection through sensor arrays.
  • Sensor re-usablity, leading to reduced assay cost.

Acoustic sensors antibody detection advantages over SPR

  • Better sensitivity.
  • QCM also sees solvent.
  • Provides conformational information of the surface film.
  • Miniaturization and integration into portable systems.
  • Easier to develop parallel and multiple analyte assays through sensor arrays.
  • Affordability.

Therefore, one can develop biosensors based on acoustic immunosensors with highly attractive features in order to rapidly detect pathogens like viruses and bacteria [1], and low molecular weigh compounds.

Application Example

Our Biosensor Application Note  is an application example where we describe a sensitive detection of a low molecular weight pesticide carbaryl using competitive immunoassay with hapen-conjugates immobilized on high-fundamental frequency QCMD sensors, SAMs and monoclonal antibodies (MAb) [2, 3]. As a result, we achieved a very sensitive detection of the carbaryl analyte.

Biosensor

 

References

[1] Surface Generated Acoustic Wave Biosensors for the Detection of Pathogens: A Review 

[2] High-frequency phase shift measurement greatly enhances the sensitivity of QCM immunosensors

[3] Love Wave Immunosensor for the Detection of Carbaryl Pesticide