Dr. Christos Kokkinos Christos Kokkinos has been a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Chemistry, University of Ioannina, since 2012. He obtained his BSc in Chemistry from the University of Thessaloniki and his MSc and PhD in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Athens, where he worked as a postdoctoral fellow until 2012. His research interests include the development of sensors using microengineering approaches and the application of electrochemical detection in chemical and biological sensing.
Methods that enable sensitive, selective and fast detection of proteins and DNA are important tools in bioanalytical chemistry. The combination of stripping voltammetry (SV) and quantum dots (QDs) serving as electrochemically active labels provides an elegant way to detect DNA and proteins. Detection is based on labeling the biomolecules with selected QDs and converting the nanoparticles to the respective free metal cations which are then detected by SV. This detection principle has been combined with microengineering and screen-printed technologies for the fabrication of ready-to-use “green” electrochemical miniaturized sensors on different substrates, with reproducible surfaces and scope for mass production. In this work, some microfabricated sensors for the voltammetric QD-based determination of DNA and proteins will be described.