BiosensUM

We are BiosensUM, an interdisciplinary team of Canadian undergraduate and graduate students from both University of Montreal and Polytechnique Montréal.  We come from various fields such as chemistry, microbiology, biology, biomedical engineering, and engineering physics and mathematics. With 90% of us being women, we are the first Canadian team with such a high feminine presence. We proudly highlight the importance of women in science by standing on the ideals of equity and equality.  

We are thrilled about the topic of Interleukin detection as it is relevant to the infamous coronavirus that has shaken the world this past year and of course in sepsis. In these times, having a quick and efficient method for IL-6 detection is key, and we aim to develop a more portable and more efficient method to detect the IL-6.

We are motivated by the challenges ahead and excited at the opportunity to propose a design that could help mitigate future sepsis outbreak. The real-world relevance and the international aspect of this project drive and motivate our team to develop an innovative diagnostic device. We truly believe that through competitions that promote innovation and learning, we can have a beneficial impact on the world.

This year the team coach will be Alexandrine Frappier, former co-captain of the BiosensUM 2021 team. Student in Biological Sciences at Université de Montréal, Alexandrine is currently finishing her master's degree.

Our supervisor is Pr. Jean-François Masson. Pr. Masson is a full professor at the University of Montreal’s chemistry department. His work focuses on the development of surface chemistries, new plasmonic materials, and instrumentation to perform clinical analysis of proteins and drugs.