Profile Details

Create Project

★★★★★

☆☆☆☆☆

USD 60 /hr

★★★★★

☆☆☆☆☆

Hire Magda B.

Portugal

USD 60 /hr

An experienced researcher in optical biosensor design and nanomaterial's synthesis and characterisation.

Profile Summary

Services include scientific writing, document rewriting, editing, problem-solving, experimental design, data analysis, communications, research advice, data presentation, schemes presentation, Portuguese/Spanish/English translation, work presentation. Biography: Magda holds a BSc in Biology-Geology and an MSc in Biophysics and Bionanosystems from the University of Minho (Portugal) graduated in December 2018. During her Master's project, she developed electrochemical biosensors to detect a specific allergen in tomato seeds at the University Complutense of Madrid. Magda joined the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science in February 2019 to pursue a PhD in Forensic Chemistry. Her research project focused on the synthesis and characterisation of new nanomaterials and nanohybrids (graphene oxide, quantum dots, nanoparticles, MIPs, and many others) integrated into novel colorimetric and fluorometric nanobiosensors formats for body fluids identification such as blood and saliva. These nanobiosensors aimed to be selective, sensitive, non-destructive, fast, and easy to handle in order to be applied as presumptive and confirmatory tests within a forensic investigation. She was also involved in the organisation of the 5th Scottish Student Forensic Research Symposium, conferences and other activities.

Subject Matter Expertise

• ★ Nanotechnology & Nanomaterials
• ★ Biosensors
• ☆ Chemistry
• ☆ Electrochemistry
• ☆ Nanotechnology
• ☆ Biology/Life Sciences
• ☆ Biophysics
• ☆ Scientific Animation & Illustration
• ☆ Technical & Scientific Writing
• ☆ Scientific Proofreading & Editing
• ☆ Language Translation

Services

• Writing
• Research
• Consulting
• Data & AI

Writing Technical Writing

Research Market Research, User Research, Fact Checking, Gray Literature Search, Systematic Literature Review

Consulting Scientific and Technical Consulting

Data & AI Data Visualization, Big Data Analytics, Data Processing, Data Insights

Work Experience

PhD student

University of Dundee

February 2019 - Present

Master research student

Universidad Complutense de Madrid

October 2017 - April 2018

Education

Research Postgraduate Student (Science and Engineering Office)

University of Dundee

February 2019 - Present

MSc Biofísica e Bionanossistemas (Departamento de Física)

Universidade do Minho

September 2016 - December 2018

BSc Biologia-Geologia (Departamento de Ciências da Terra)

Universidade do Minho

September 2013 - August 2016

Certifications

• Certification details not provided.

Publications

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Rapid and selective aptamer-based fluorescence detection of salivary lysozyme using plasmonic metal-enhanced fluorescence of ZnSSe alloyed quantum dots-gold nanoparticle nanohybrid @article{645f408466894ca8a5237200368c8d9a, title = "Rapid and selective aptamer-based fluorescence detection of salivary lysozyme using plasmonic metal-enhanced fluorescence of ZnSSe alloyed quantum dots-gold nanoparticle nanohybrid", abstract = "We report on the construction of an aptamer (Apt)-based fluorescent biosensor platform for salivary lysozyme using plasmonic metal-enhanced fluorescence of ZnSSe alloyed quantum dots (QDs)-gold nanoparticle (AuNP) nanohybrid. Salivary lysozyme was used as a model analyte to develop the Apt fluorescence biosensor assay for real-life detection of human saliva. To construct the biosensor, thiolated anti-salivary lysozyme DNA Apt was immobilised on the L-cysteine-ZnSSe QDs surface to form a functionalised Apt-ZnSSe-QDs. Thereafter, citrate-AuNPs was bonded to the Apt-ZnSSe-QDs to form an Apt-ZnSSe-QDs-AuNP fluorescence biosensor probe. Using affinity-based biomolecular binding interaction between the Apt and target lysozyme, the binding effect induced localised surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) signal from AuNPs to amplify the fluorescence signal of the QDs upon lysozyme recognition. Probing the LSPR signal amplifying effects of different plasmonic NPs, our analysis showed that spherical citrate-AuNPs of size 6 nm was most effective in amplifying the fluorescence signal of the biosensor probe. Under optimum experimental reaction conditions, salivary lysozyme was detected quantitatively within 5 min with a detection limit of 22.9 μg/mL and was highly selective against other tested enzymes. Application of the Apt-ZnSSe QDs-AuNP biosensor probe to detect real human saliva samples was successfully achieved.", keywords = "AuNPs, Detection, Fluorescence, Lysozyme, QDs", author = "Pereira-Barros, {Magda A.} and {Nic Daeid}, Niamh and Oluwasesan Adegoke", note = "Funding Information: We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Leverhulme Trust for funding this work. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 Elsevier B.V.", year = "2021", month = sep, day = "1", doi = "10.1016/j.jphotochem.2021.113384", language = "English", volume = "418", journal = "Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry", issn = "1010-6030", publisher = "Elsevier", } . Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry.

Magda A. Pereira-Barros, Niamh Nic Daeid, Oluwasesan Adegoke(2021). Rapid and selective aptamer-based fluorescence detection of salivary lysozyme using plasmonic metal-enhanced fluorescence of ZnSSe alloyed quantum dots-gold nanoparticle nanohybrid . Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology A: Chemistry. 418. p. 113384. Elsevier {BV}

Aptamer-based cocaine assay using a nanohybrid composed of ZnS/Ag2Se quantum dots, graphene oxide and gold nanoparticles as a fluorescent probe @article{488f4921cf6b46c3aeb9358b56ce6da6, title = "Aptamer-based cocaine assay using a nanohybrid composed of ZnS/Ag2Se quantum dots, graphene oxide and gold nanoparticles as a fluorescent probe", abstract = "Authors report on a new fluoro-graphene-plasmonic nanohybrid aptamer-based fluorescent nanoprobe for cocaine. To construct the nanoprobe, newly synthesized glutathione-capped ZnS/Ag 2Se quantum dots (QDs) were first conjugated to graphene oxide (GO) to form a QD-GO nanocomposite. The binding interaction resulted in a fluorescence turn-ON. Thereafter, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)-gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were directly adsorbed on the QD-GO nanocomposite to form a novel QD-GO-CTAB-AuNP nanohybrid assembly that resulted in a fluorescence turn-OFF. Streptavidin (strep) was then adsorbed on the QDs-GO-CTAB-AuNP nanohybrid assembly which allowed binding to a biotinylated MNS 4.1 anticocaine DNA aptamer (B) receptor. The addition of cocaine into the strep-B-QDs-GO-CTAB-AuNP aptamer nanoprobe system aided affinity to the aptamer receptor and in turn turned on the fluorescence of the nanoprobe in a concentration-dependent manner. Under optimum experimental conditions, we found the strep-B-QD-GO-CTAB-AuNP to be far superior in its sensitivity to cocaine than the tested strep-B-QDs (no GO and CTAB-AuNPs), strep-B-QD-CTAB-AuNP (no GO) and strep-B-QD-GO (no CTAB-AuNP). In addition, the investigation of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) amplified signal from tested plasmonic NPs shows that CTAB-AuNPs was far superior in amplifying the fluorescence signal of the nanoprobe. A detection limit of 4.6 nM (1.56 ng.mL −1), rapid response time (~2 min) and excellent selectivity against other drugs, substances and cocaine metabolites was achieved. The strep-B-QD-GO-CTAB-AuNP aptamer-based fluorescent nanoprobe was successfully applied for the determination of cocaine in seized adulterated cocaine samples.", keywords = "Fluorescence, Gold nanoparticle, Graphene oxide, Nanohybrid, Quantum dots", author = "Oluwasesan Adegoke and Pereira-Barros, {Magda A.} and Svetlana Zolotovskaya and Amin Abdolvand and {Nic Daeid}, Niamh", note = "Funding: EPSRC (EP/P008135/2; EP/S017445/1)", year = "2020", month = feb, doi = "10.1007/s00604-019-4101-6", language = "English", volume = "187", journal = "Microchimica Acta", issn = "0026-3672", publisher = "Springer Verlag", number = "2", } . Microchimica Acta.

Magda A. Pereira-Barros and M. F{\'{a}}tima Barroso and Laura Mart{\'{\i}}n-Pedraza and Eva Vargas and Sara Bened{\'{e}} and Mayte Villalba and Jo{\~{a}}o M. Rocha and Susana Campuzano and Jos{\'{e}} M. Pingarr{\'{o}}n(2019). Direct PCR-free electrochemical biosensing of plant-food derived nucleic acids in genomic DNA extracts. Application to the determination of the key allergen Sola l 7 in tomato seeds . Biosensors and Bioelectronics. 137. p. 171--177. Elsevier {BV}