Dr. Mercedes Vázquez is Assistant Professor in Analytical Chemistry in the School of Chemical Sciences at Dublin City University. Besides being a Funded Investigator in I-Form, she is a Principal Investigator in the National Centre for Sensor Research (NCSR) and the Advanced Processing Technology Research Centre (APT). She received her MSc in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Oviedo (Spain, 1998) and her PhD from Åbo Akademi University (Finland, 2005), where she worked on the development of potentiometric ion sensors based on conducting polymers. She joined DCU in 2006 as part of the Centre for Bioanalytical Sciences (CBAS) to work on the development of analytical methods and microfluidic technologies for rapid screening of complex media in biopharmaceutical processes, in collaboration with BMS. She recently received the prestigious Community for Analytical Measurement Science (CAMS) Fellowship from the Analytical Chemistry Trust Fund (ACTF). She currently is (elected) Vice-Chair of the COST Action PortASAP - European network for the promotion of portable, affordable and simple analytical platforms.
Dr. Vázquez’s current research is mainly focused on the development of portable analytical systems and methodologies for on-site analysis in application areas such as environmental analysis and point-of-care diagnostics, where on-site analysis is essential to ensure a prompt response to contamination events or health issues. To that end, she uses fast prototyping methods such as 3D printing for fabrication of microfluidic-based and Lab-on-a-CD devices that integrate diverse functions (e.g. sample clean up, incubation, mixing with chemical reagents, analysis) and are coupled to portable detection systems such as smartphone cameras. This approach provides low-cost solutions for on-site applications. Development of functional (nano)materials for analytical applications such as micro-solid phase extraction (e.g. porous polymer monoliths) and increased sensitivity of detection (e.g. metallic nanoparticles) is also an important part of her research.