Process control

Multichannel system for on-line detection and control of the growth of bacterial biofilms using piezoelectric sensors

Bacterial microorganisms have an enormous capacity to join the surfaces of diverse materials (plastic, metal, ceramics) and develop complex biofilm-like structures (biofilms). When these structures are developed in medical implants, they can generate infections with serious repercussions for patients. Therefore, it is of interest to have systems that allow to monitor the growth of these biofilms in order to contribute to the performance of clinical trials to improve medical treatments.
Currently, there are no devices that allow testing multiple samples in parallel using techniques that allow non-destructive and continuous measurements. For this reason, this project aims to develop an analytical technique and a multichannel system for the on-line detection and control of the growth of bacterial biofilms, based on the use of piezoelectric sensors of the quartz resonator type (QCM).
The project includes the selection and design of the most suitable sensor package, the implementation of the entire electronic measurement system (in a way that is affordable and easy to use for non-expert users), the development of the software necessary for its operation , the validation of the necessary algorithms for the reliability of the measurements and the calibration and validation of the analytical technique.

Current Projects

• "Monitorización del crecimiento e inhibición de biofilms bacterianos basada en resonadores QCM" - RTI2018-099938-B-I00, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, IPs: Dr. Jorge Salazar Soler, Dr. Antoni Turó Peroy

Researcher EUSS

Dr. Miquel Àngel Amer Boixareu

Articles:

• “Multichannel system for continuous measurement of biofilm growth”, Miquel-Àngel Amer, Antoni Turó, Jordi Salazar, Luis Berlanga-Herrera, Miguel J. García-Hernández, and Juan Antonio Chávez, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, (6), (2020)
• “Design and implementation of an ultrasonic sensor for rapid monitoring of industrial malolactic fermentation of wines”, Çelik, Derviş A. ;Amer Boixareu, Miquel A. ;Novoa Díaz, Daniel F. ;Chávez Domínguez, Juan A. ;Turó Peroy, Antoni ;García Hernández, Miguel J. ;Salazar Soler, Jordi, Instrumentation Science & Technology, Taylor & Francis, doi.org/10.1080/10739149.2017.1394878, (2017)

Congress contributions:

• Chávez Domínguez, Juan Antonio ; García Hernández, Miguel J. ; Millán Blasco, Oliver ;Tur, Ignasi ; Turó Peroy, Antoni ; Amer Boixareu, Miquel Àngel ; Salazar Soler, Jordi.  Comparison between Sine Wave Fitting and Zero-Crossing Methods Applied to QCM Impedance Measurements. 2017 I2MTC IEEE. IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society. Torino, Italy, 22-26/05/017.
• Amer Boixareu, Miquel Àngel ;Chavez Dominguez, Juan Antonio ;García hernández, Miguel Jesús ;Salazar Soler, Jordi ;Turó Peroy, Antoni. Quartz Crystal Microbalance Holder Design for On-Line Sensing in Liquid Applications.  18th International Conference on Ultrasonics and Applications. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology. Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 12/05/2016.

Patents:

• Sistema de detección y monitorización del crecimiento de biopelículas bacterianas.  Número de solitud: P201730874. País de inscripción: España. Fecha de registro: 30/06/2017.

• Grup Sistemes Sensors, UPC
• Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas /Instituto de Tecnologías Físicas y de la Información (ITEFI). 

          Dr. Jorge Salazar Soler, Dr. Juan Antonio Chávez Domínguez, Dr. Miguel Jesús García Hernández, Dr. Miquel Àngel Amer Boixareu, Dr. Antoni Turó Peroy