CNPEM fellowship recipient recognized at major international electrochemistry congress

UFABC doctoral candidate and LNNano/CNPEM fellow Juliana Naomi Yamauti Costa was recognized for her research into quantum biosensors to detect the Mpox virus, conducted with support from FAPESP and CAPES.

Juliana Naomi Yamauti Costa, a biomolecular physicist and fellowship recipient at the Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory (LNNano) at the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), was recognized at the 76th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Electrochemistry (ISE). The yearly event, held this year in the German city of Mainz, is considered the main international congress in the area of electrochemistry.

She was recognized at the event for her poster presentation, “Analysis of Quantum Capacitive States as a Signal Amplification Mechanism in Biosensing Electrochemical Chips for Diagnosis of Mpox,” in which she demonstrated the feasibility of using highly sensitive quantum electrochemical biosensors to diagnose the Mpox virus. This agent causes an emerging infectious disease transmitted by direct contact that can produce skin lesions, fever and serious complications in vulnerable populations.

Her work at CNPEM is being conducted under the guidance of LNNano’s lead researcher, Renato Sousa Lima, and in collaboration with Professor Paulo Bueno (UNESP), and involves efforts to transfer quantum biosensors from conventional electrodes to miniaturized high-performance platforms.

The research uses high-density electrochemical electrode chips, a technology developed by Juliana during her master’s degree at CNPEM, which are now integrated into electroactive self-assembled monolayers (e-SAMs). This system detects the binding of viral biomarkers through changes in quantum capacitance, a phenomenon linked to the way electrons occupy energy states that are available in the material. This works as an intrinsic signal amplification mechanism, ensuring high sensitivity and precision even at low concentrations of viral biomarkers. In addition to Mpox, this technology has significant potential for adaptation to diagnose other diseases, since the detection principle can easily target different biomarkers.

“Our goal is to show that the platform developed at CNPEM, combined with the use of quantum capacitance as a detection mechanism, can establish a new paradigm in biosensors. This approach not only makes the tests faster, more accessible and reliable, but can also be applied to a wide range of diseases, going beyond the limitations of traditional methods,” explains Juliana.

The study is part of Juliana’s doctoral research at the Federal University of ABC (UFABC), and is also within the scope of a project entitled “Miniaturized devices for large-scale production: fabrication, characterization and in-situ applications” that is being carried out at CNPEM with support from the São Paulo State Research Foundation (FAPESP) and Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes). Initial findings from the study are expected during the second half of 2026, with licensing of the platform in the future by a company focusing on drug investigation and discovery.