biosensors for the detection and quantification of aquatic bacterial contamination in waters for ...

242 Pages·2013·5.63 MB·English

by  Raquel Queirós

FACULDADE DE CIÊNCIAS DA UNIVERSIDADE DO PORTO

BIOSENSORS FOR THE DETECTION AND
QUANTIFICATION OF AQUATIC BACTERIAL
CONTAMINATION IN WATERS FOR HUMAN USE

Raquel Barbosa Queirós

Departamento de Física e Astronomia da Faculdade de Ciências da
Universidade do Porto

Porto 2013
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FACULDADE DE CIÊNCIAS DA UNIVERSIDADE DO PORTO

BIOSENSORS FOR THE DETECTION AND QUANTIFICATION OF
AQUATIC BACTERIAL CONTAMINATION IN WATERS FOR
HUMAN USE

Raquel Barbosa Queirós

Thesis submitted to Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto in partial
fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

This thesis was conducted under the supervision of
Professor Doctor Maria Goreti Ferreira Sales
Adjunct Professor in Chemical Engineering Department of Instituto Superior de
Engenharia do Instituto Politécnico do Porto
and
Professor Doctor Paulo Vicente da Silva Marques
Assistant Professor in Physics and Astronomy Department of Faculdade de Ciências
da Universidade do Porto
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Bolsa de investigação da Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia com a referência
SFRH/BD/49072/2008, financiada pelo POPH – QREN – Tipologia 4.1 – Formação
Avançada, comparticipada pelo Fundo Social Europeu e por fundos nacionais do
MCTES.
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To my deepest love, Miguel,
for his help, support and encouragement in every aspect of my life;
and
to my parents and sister Inês,
who raised me and trust me with their endless love.
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FCUP i
Biosensors for the detection and quantification of aquatic bacterial contamination in waters for human use

Acknowledgments
I would like to express the most sincere gratitude to my advisors Dr. Goreti Sales, Dr.
João Paulo Noronha and Dr. Paulo Marques for giving me this opportunity to further my
education and for the valuable lessons passed down over the last few years.
I would like to also extend my sincere thanks to Orlando Frazão, Pedro Jorge and
Paulo Moreira for their support, technical discussions, and tips for the experimental
work. I also thank Dr. Irineu Dias for his support and Prof. José Luís Santos for
knowing when to give a word of encouragement at the right time.
A special thank goes to Susana Silva and Carlos Gouveia for all the knowledge shared
regarding optical sensors, for all the help in experimental work, for the important
discussions and for the help in the scientific writing.
To my colleagues and friends from UOSE, Joel Carvalho, Luís Coelho, Ricardo Silva,
Jaime Viegas, Diana Viegas, Paulo Caldas, Hugo Martins, Kata Balogh and Ivo
Nascimento for their many valuable discussions, support and mainly for your constant
willingness and hilarious moments in coffee breaks.
A special thanks to Luísa Mendonça for being so kind, professional and helpful.
To Gerardo Aguilar for drafted the initial work plan. To Javier Cruz and Yonny Barcelay
for the help and availability always demonstrated.
To all my coworkers of UOSE, thank you for helping me in one way or another.
To my colleagues from BioMark, Felismina Moreira, Sofia Almeida, Rafaela Guerreiro,
Tânia Ribeiro, Liliana Truta and Gustavo Cabral for their support, help and for the fun
moments shared.
I would like to acknowledge INESC TEC, BioMark, FCUP and ISEP for the facilities to
support this work, without which this research would not be possible.
I would like to thank Dr. Noemí de-los-Santos-Álvarez for receiving me in GEUO
(Grupo de Electroanálisis Universidad de Oviedo) and for all the knowledge shared in a
new area of knowledge and to colleagues Eva, Elena, Goreti, Sonia and Daniel for all
the help provided. I cannot forget Dr. Arturo Miranda-Ordieres for the valuable advises
in electrochemical issues.
FCUP ii
Biosensors for the detection and quantification of aquatic bacterial contamination in waters for human use

I would like to thank Dr. Janos Vörös from LBB (Laboratory of Biosensors and
Bioelectronics, Institute for Biomedical Engineering, ETH Zurich) for receive me in LBB,
for his accessibility, for providing all necessary resources for the implementation of my
work but especially for guiding me in the right line of attack. To Kaori Sugihara for all
the knowledge shared regarding OWLS system, for all the help in experimental work
and for all the important discussion. And to all LBB members, Victoria, Sophie, Harald,
Bernd, Pablo, Raphael G. and Raphael Z., Juliane, Alex L. and Alex T., Peter, Dario,
Prayanka, Benjamin, Blandine, Chris, Leena, Rami, Gemma, Elsa, Jose, Norma, Mike,
Tomaso, Esther and Bruno thanks for any help at lab work, for my integration into your
group, and for the company and fun moments.
To my dearest friend, Paula Tafulo, for her restless help in my experimental work,
assistance in technical writing and many valuable discussions that facilitated my
research. For her encouragement, friendship and companion over the last 11 years in
work but also in life.
To Pedro Serapicos for the unceasing encouragement, support and friendship and all
the funny moments.
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to all my friends and family that in many
instances contributed with friendship, love, support and incentive for successfully
complete this thesis.