Cesar de la Fuente, PhD, presidential assistant professor in the Perelman School of Medicine and head of the de le Fuente Lab in the Department of Bioengineering and the Department of Microbiology, and his research team are working on a low-cost biosensor that can specifically identify and diagnose different types of infectious agents in a matter of minutes.
Professor de la Fuente was recently awarded $80,000 through the inaugural Nemirovsky Engineering and Medicine Opportunity prize for his proposal to develop rapid, paper-based COVID-19 breath tests through this evolving technology platform. One particularly compelling product concept based on Dr. de la Fuente’s technology approach involves the integration of a miniaturized biosensor directly into face masks to alert a wearer in real-time if the sensor found the virus present in the atmosphere surrounding the wearer.
