Technologies

A biosensor based on magnetic microspheres functionalized with a DNA-aptamer was developed for the specific biomonitoring of biological contaminants (mycotoxins) in urine.

Direct quantification of the percentage of arabica in roasted and ground coffee blends of arabica/robusta by High Resolution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy (NMR), in solution and multivariate statistical analysis. Particularly, the metabolites content present in water extracts of coffee is analyzed and compared with NMR data of our database.

The compact-GC platform is a MEMS-based analytical module for the purge&trap pre-concentration and (gas)-chromatographic separation of a sample. The two analytical MEMS (pre-concentrator and GC column) are interconnected by means of a MEMS microfluidic manifold. The microfluidic manifold interconnects the analytical MEMS, but it also acts as injector through the integrated micro-valves.

The proposed technology is based on the micro-fabrication of electrodes in order to generate surface acoustic waves (SAW) with well-defined frequencies, on piezoelectric substrates. The operating principle of a surface acoustic wave sensor is linked to the variation of the characteristics of the acoustic wave that propagates on the device (e.g. wave velocity on the substrate, etc.) caused by the interaction with the environment (e.g. interaction of an analyte on the surface of the device, deformation of the substrate, etc.).

Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) are 1D structures with diameter ranging from few tens to hundreds of nanometers and length varying from few tens of nanometers to millimiters. SiNWs are fabricated in the labs of the IMM-CNR, Rome Unit,  by using bottom-up technologies such as plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) at low growth temperature ((≤350°C), allowing the use of plastic and glassy substrates. Their electrical properties can be tuned by controlling the p/n doping during the growth.

We propose a portable chemical analysis system capable of identifying chemical substances at trace concentrations (sub-ppm), even in case of a complex matrix of interfering species.

Combined use of High-Resolution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy in solution and multivariate statistical analysis for the geographical differentiation of Italian and Chinese concentrated tomato paste. Particularly the metabolites content of acqueos exctrats of concentrated tomato paste is evaluated.

Anthocyanins are antioxidant polyphenolic pigments produced by plants that are widely used in the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. The technology allows to obtain in a short time potato cell lines in which the production of highly acetylated and highly complex anthocyanins is increased in addition to other antioxidant polyphenolic compounds. The obtained cellular lines have a high production efficiency, comparable to the extraction of berries, but with the advantage of having an on-demand production which is not limited to seasonality.

VisLab laboratory of IMM possesses a latest generation Raman micro-spectroscope equipped for vibrational measurements with high spatial and spectral resolution, at controlled temperature and in fast-imaging. The apparatus can be used to collect information and chemico-physical maps without the need for sample preparation and alteration, therefore for non-destructive studies and in operating conditions.

We developed a procedure aimed at simultaneously treating thousands of C.elegans model organisms, from eggs to old adult, in liquid, in 96- or 384-well plates. This procedure can be used to perform drug and toxicological screening of millions of compounds, in very small volumes and on millions of animals. Thanks to easy handling, semi-automatic analysis can be performed using plate readers or High Content Screening instruments.

Our idea come from the improving of the traceability technique in agro-food fisheries industries through the application of omics technologies in microbiota studies.  These latter would be capable of exploiting the huge pool of biological molecules contained in fishery resources (e.g. nucleic acids, proteins, metabolites) and use them as a powerful tools for the identification and reconstruction of fishery history, from the sea to the table.

Detection devices for the presence of molecules of interest (analytes) enjoyed a renewed burst with the introduction of biological components (biosensors). Their high specificity is often used in various fields, from environmental monitoring and biomedicine to the protection and promotion of agri-food products. However, the high cost of production and the lack of compatibility with mass sampling (high-throughput) sometimes limit their use.

WembraneX is an Italian start-up born with the ambition to make a significant contribution to UN Sustainable Goal 6 - Ensure Access to Clean Water and Sanitation for all by 2030.

The invention is about the development of a device and its methodology for measuring the active and reactive sound intensity from the impedance computation. The active intensity is calculated directly in the frequency domain multiplying the complex impedance and power spectrum of the air particle velocity. A second line of post-processing is applied to obtain the overall complex sound intensity.

The NanoMicroFab infrastructure, support companies operating in the field of micro and nanoelectronics through the supply of materials, development of processes, design, fabrication and characterization of materials and devices. NanoMicroFab makes use of existing CNR facilities of the Institute of Microelectronics and Microsystems, the Institute of Photonics and Nanotechnologies and the Institute for the Structure of Matter and provides: • a complete line of development of devices based on wide band gap semiconductors.