Once I arrived to the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) complex I felt excited and happy to be there. It was amazing how much technology was gathered in order to develop nanotechnology and nanosciences. For all summer interns it was really rewarding when we were guided along installations and when seeing tools and people working around seriously and accordingly to requirements of work in this impressive place.

The morning of the first day in there was full of work and previous trainings for avoiding accidents in next weeks of work!! That same day it was when I finally met my advisors, the professors Susan Sharfstein and Anand Gadre, they both members of the constellation of Nanobioscience in the CNSE. They were pretty empathic with me and made me feel very comfortable when meeting them. I also met my mentor, the PhD student Anthony Davis.

Starting the first week I knew about the project in which I work now, this project is called “Fabrication and functionalization of Electrospun nanofibers for real-time measurements in bioreactors: glucose and lactate “, and despite the complex name, It is basically about the fabrication of a nanoscale biosensor which can be able to measure concentrations of specific molecules of interest in human body, such as Glucose, which excess or lack in body is the reason of Diabetes in many people around the world. Specifically, we focus on Glucose as a very important analyte in struggle against Diabetes. This sensor is based in electrospun PLGA (Poly Lactic-co-Glicolic acid) nanofibers functionalized with the enzyme Glucose Oxidase (GOX) in order to identify its concentration in blood, for instance.

In my group we are 4 people working in the project: my two advisors, my mentor and me, but since the first day, one of the objectives was getting me to work independently.

These last weeks have been pretty fruitful, and I can sum them up like a plenty of work in the lab, (Nanobio labs), and also research in the literature (a lot of papers) for finding useful and applicable processes for our goal, the chemical modification of PLGA nanofibers with GOX enzyme and the use of this system in biosensing applications. Finally, we are realizing now a plenty of attempts and tests of the functionality of the GOX modified nanofibers in the detection of Glucose concentrations.

The final presentation of my project will be in July 27 th, and last preparations are already being done. I will be ready!

I will be posting again very soon. I am really enjoying my time here and next time I will be talking more about my project.

Warm regrets to everybody!! I wish the best to all in their summer experiences.

Pablo Soriano

CNSE, College of Nanoscale Science and engineering.