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Dr Sotiria Psoma

Profile summary

  • Central Academic Staff
  • Snr. Lecturer in Electronic Engineering, BioNanoTechnol
  • Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
  • School of Engineering & Innovation
  • sotiria.psoma

Professional biography

Dr Sotiria Psoma received her MSc and PhD from the Institute of BioScience and Technology of Cranfield University. Her MSc by Research was carried out in the field of biosensors and nanotechnology. The main focus of her doctoral thesis was the development of optical biosensors for clinical and environmental applications using enzymatic reactions and immobilisation techniques, fluorescence spectroscopy and fibre optics. Sotiria has a first degree in Electronic Engineering from the Piraeus University of Applied Science in Athens, Greece.

For over 25 years, Dr Psoma has gained substantial experience in the development of optical biosensors, micro-nano-biosensors and bioengineering applications for healthcare. Before joining the Open University in September 2018, Dr Psoma worked as an Experienced Research Scientist at Cambridge Display Technology Limited, in the field of biosensors/sensors. During her career she participated in national and EU research projects with international collaborations and she held a number of senior research and teaching positions. She worked in the Engineering Department of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (Marie Curie Fellow), the Gray Cancer Research Institute at Mount Vernon Hospital/Northwood, the Department of Pharmaceutical Studies at the University of Nottingham and the University of Western Macedonia in Greece. 

Between 2011 and 2017, Dr Psoma held the honorary post of Visiting Professor in Nanotechnology/BioMEMS at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), School of Engineering, Institute of Microengineering in Switzerland and she closely collaborated with Professor Nico de Rooij in SAMLAB.

I am a member of the international Editorial Advisory Board of the Open Access Books ToolKit (OAPEN Foundation, Netherlands and Springer Nature Publishing). 

Since 2021, I hold the position of Visiting Academic at the School of Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing of Cranfield University.

Research interests

The research interests of Dr Psoma are focused on harnessing the power of engineering and nanotechnology for developing low-cost, reliable, highly stable optical biosensors for healthcare applications. This is part of a multidisciplinary research effort aimed at exploring and developing aptamers, biocompatible materials and polymers, novel immobilisation techniques, microfluidics and bioelectronics for the construction of smart micro-biosensors towards personalised medicine.

The five major strands of Dr Psoma’s research portfolio are:

1.       Basic understanding of the interface of biological materials with transducers in   biosensor technology and immobilisation techniques

2.        Aptamer technology in combination with Nanotechnology for biosensor applications

3.        Development of 3D models with integrated fluidics and OLED/OPD electronics

4.        Utilisation of fluorescence spectroscopy in optical biosensor field

5.       Continuous monitoring and multi-analyte portable devices for diabetes management and healthcare applications

6.       Computational analysis and design of microchambers and microfluidics for biosensor applications

7.      Energy harvesting from the human body for self-powered biosensors 

 

I welcome applications from potential PhD students in optical biosensor technology, aptamer technology in combination with fluorescence spectroscopy, OLED/OPD technology for portable devices and utilisation of nanomaterials in biosensor healthcare applications, diabetes management and personalised medicine.

 

Keywords

Biosensors; aptamers; fluorescence; nanotechnology; micro/nanofluidics; bioelectronics; wearable biosensors; human energy harvesting; personalised diagnostics.

Teaching interests

Engineering, Bioelectronics, Biosensors and Nanotechnology:

- Presentation chair of the module T212 Electronics: Sensing, logic and actuation, which illustrates electronic/electrical engineering at device level and it started in October 2017;

-  Team member of the module production T366 Nanoscale Engineering,  which will offer students the opportunity to study topics related to nanotechnology in engineering and their applications. Lead author of T366 Book 3.

- Team member of the module T312 Electronics: Signal processing, control and communications.

- T176 Engineering / Residential School: Professions, practice and skills 1 (Tutor Activity)

Publications

A 3D-Printed Piezoelectric Microdevice for Human Energy Harvesting for Wearable Biosensors (2024-01)
Sobianin, Ihor; Psoma, Sotiria D. and Tourlidakis, Antonios
Micromachines, 15, Article 118(1)

A hybrid piezoelectric and electrostatic energy harvester for scavenging arterial pulsations (2023-12-03)
Sobianin, Ihor; Psoma, Sotiria D. and Tourlidakis, Antonios
Materials Today: Proceedings, 93(1) (pp. 16-23)

Wearable Insulin Biosensors for Diabetes Management: Advances and Challenges (2023-07)
Psoma, Sotiria D. and Kanthou, Chryso
Biosensors, 13, Article 719(7)

Recent Advances in Energy Harvesting from the Human Body for Biomedical Applications (2022-11-01)
Sobianin, Ihor; Psoma, Sotiria and Tourlidakis, Antonios
Energies, 15, Article 7959(21)

Computational and Experimental Investigation of Microfluidic Chamber Designs for DNA Biosensors (2022-02-14)
Psoma, Sotiria D.; Sobianin, Ihor and Tourlidakis, Antonios
Engineering Proceedings, 16, Article 16(1)

A Practical application of energy harvesting based on piezoelectric technology for charging portable electronic devices (2017-02-01)
Psoma, S. D.; Tzanetis, P. and Tourlidakis, A.
Materials Today: Proceedings, 4(7) (pp. 6771-6785)

Low Fluorescence Enzyme Matrices Based on Microfabricated SU-8 Films for a Phenol Micro-Biosensor Application (2011)
Psoma, Sotiria D.; van der Wal, Peter D. and de Rooij, Nico F.
Procedia Engineering, 25 (pp. 1369-1372)

A novel enzyme entrapment in SU-8 microfabricated films for glucose micro-biosensors (2010)
Psoma, Sotiria D.; van der Wal, Peter D.; Frey, Olivier; de Rooij, Nicolaas F. and Turner, Anthony P.F.
Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 26(4) (pp. 1582-1587)

Smart SU-8 Pillars Implemented in a Microfluidic Bioreactor for Continuous Measurement of Glucose (2010)
Talaei, S.; Frey, O.; Psoma, S.; van der Wal, P. D. and de Rooij, N. F
Procedia Engineering, 5 (pp. 448-451)

Utilisation of JSR and BCB resists for the construction of gray scale microstructures (2009-09)
Psoma, Sotiria D.
Procedia Chemistry, 1(1) (pp. 816-819)

Concentrations of VOCs and ozone in indoor environments: A case study in two Mediterranean cities during winter period (2008-02)
Bartzis, John G.; Michael, Costas; Michaelidou, Stella; Missia, Dafni A.; Saraga, Dikaia E.; Tolis, Evangelos I.; Psoma, S.; Petaloti, Christine; Kotzias, Dimitrios and Barero-Moreno, Josefa M.
Fresenius Environmental Bulletin, 17(9b) (pp. 1480-1484)

Influence of photo-initiator concentration on residual mechanical stress in SU-8 thin films (2006-05-07)
Psoma, S.D.; Jenkins, D.W.K.; Derbyshire, G.E. and Stevens, R.
TechConnect Briefs, 1 (pp. 79-82)

SU-8 micro-biosensor based on Mach-Zehnder interferometer (2005-10)
Esinesco, D.; Psoma, S.D.; Kusco, M.; Schneider, A. and Muller, R
Reviews on Advanced Materials Science, 10(4) (pp. 295-299)

Comparative assessment of different sacrificial materials for releasing SU-8 structures (2005-09)
Psoma, Sotiria D. and Jenkins, Derek W.K.
Reviews on Advanced Materials Science, 10(2) (pp. 149-155)

A Hybrid Piezoelectric and Reverse Electrowetting Energy Harvester for Wearable Biosensors (2024-04-23)
Psoma, Sotiria; Sobianin, Ihor and Tourlidakis, Antonios
In : XXXV EUROSENSORS Conference (10-13 Sep 2023, Lecce, Italy)

The potential role of wearable insulin biosensors in diabetes management (2024)
Psoma, Sotiria
In : 5th Edition of World Congress on ENDOCRINOLOGY, DIABETES AND METABOLISM - EDM 2024 (15-16 Jul 2024, Vienna, Austria)

Arterial pulsations as an energy source for a hybrid piezoelectric/electrostatic energy microharvester (2023-06-15)
Psoma, Sotiria; Sobianin, Ihor and Tourlidakis, Antonios
In : Swiss NanoConvention 2023 (15-16 Jun 2023, Neuchâtel, Switzerland)

A 3D printed wearable piezoelectric platform for energy harvesting from artery pulsation (2023)
Sobianin, Ihor; Psoma, Sotiria and Tourlidakis, Antonios
In : 20th International Conference on Nanosciences & Nanotechnologies, NN23 (4-7 Jul 2023, Thessaloniki, Greece)

A hybrid piezoelectric and electrostatic energy harvester for scavenging arterial pulsations (2022-07-05)
Sobianin, Ihor; Psoma, Sotiria; Johnson, Jeffrey; Jowers, Iestyn and Tourlidakis, Antonios
In : 19th International Conference on Nanosciences & Nanotechnologie (NN22) (5-8 Jul 2022, Thessaloniki, Greece)

A hybrid microfluidic platform for energy harvesting based on piezoelectricity and reverse electrowetting for wearable biosensors (2021)
Sobianin, Ihor; Tourlidakis, Antonios and Psoma, Sotiria
In : 31 Anniversary World Congress on Biosensors - Biosensors 2021 (26-29 Jul 2021, Online Conference (UK))

Computational analysis and design of microchambers for multianalyte aptamer-based biosensor applications (2020-07-31)
Psoma, Sotiria and Tourlidakis, Antonios
In : 17th International Conference on Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies - NN20 (7-10 Jul 2020, Thessaloniki, Greece) (pp. 64-64)

An aptamer-based fluorescent biosensor for insulin detection. (2019-02-18)
Psoma, Sotiria
In : Proceedings of the 2nd European Biosensor Symposium 2019 (18-21 Feb 2019, Florence, Italy) (p 220)

Utilisation of microbiosensors for monitoring phenols in whisky fermentation process (2019)
Psoma, S D
In : 16th International Conference on NanoSciences and Nanotechnologies (NN19) (From 2/7/2019 to 5/7/2019, Thessaloniki, Greece)