Advanced Point-of-Care Technologies for Asymptomatic Screening in One-Health by Prof Luisa Torsi | IAS STEM Graduate Colloquium

Join us in the IAS STEM Graduate Colloquium on 29 May 2024 (Wed), 2pm at SPMS LT4 by our distinguished speaker, Prof Luisa Torsi, Full Professor of Analytical Chemistry, University of Bari, Italy and Fellow of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei.

About the talk

Screening asymptomatic organisms (humans, animals, and plants) using point-of-care-testing (POCT) technologies has the potential to revolutionise early disease detection. While user-friendly, affordable, and highly reliable in-vitro diagnostic devices are not yet available, promising technologies at readiness-level 5 include Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) lateral-flow-strip tests and Single-Molecule-with-a-large-Transistor (SiMoT) bioelectronic palmar devices. Both meet World Health Organization standards for POCT systems, with low rates of false positives and false negatives (1-4%), ensuring diagnostic selectivity and sensitivity of 95-99%.

The CRISPR-strip detects minimal DNA/RNA in blood, while SiMoT immunometric and molecular tests can detect individual oligonucleotides, proteins, or pathogens in just 0.1mL of bodily fluids such as blood, saliva, and olive sap. Integrating these technologies into healthcare can revolutionise disease surveillance, enabling early intervention and timely diagnoses, ultimately leading to a healthier and more sustainable future.

Our Distinguished Speaker

Prof Luisa Torsi earned her laurea degree in Physics and a PhD in Chemical Sciences from the University of Bari (UNIBA) and has served as a full professor of Chemistry there since 2005. She was the first woman to win the Heinrich Emanuel Merck Prize in 2010 and was honoured with the Premio Presidente della Repubblica in 2023 by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. With approximately 260 ISI papers, including publications in esteemed journals such as Science and Nature Materials, Torsi has garnered nearly 17,000 Google Scholar citations and an h-index of 66. Ranked among the top 2% of globally cited scientists. She is the second most cited female materials scientist in Italy according to Research.com.

Committed to promoting gender equality in STEM, Torsi has given TEDx talks, participated in the 100Experts project, and was featured in a TOPOLINO (Italian series of Disney comics) as a role model for young female scientists.

Co-Organisers

IAS@NTU and the Graduate Students' Clubs of CCEB, SBS and SPMS