INTERVIEW WITH LAURA MERCOLINI
“ In our laboratory, we work closely also with nonacademic institutions just in order to deeply
understand what the actual needs are in real settings. ”
MICROSAMPLING IN SPORTS DRUG TESTING – AN INTERVIEW WITH LAURA MERCOLINI
(UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA)
In this interview we caught up with Laura Mercolini from the University of Bologna (Italy) to discuss some of the novel and exciting applications of microsampling in sports drug testing.
Q
Could you tell us more about your current work and what began your interest in microsampling?
Q
Currently my main scientific focus is in the development and application of novel bioanalytical approaches to reduce and refine pharmacotoxicological study designs, as well as applying it to other settings. This interest has arisen in the framework of therapeutic drug monitoring of patients treated with CNS drugs, with the main purpose to improve compliance of critical patients and assist clinicians with therapy personalization.
My research work centers on the implementation of effective sampling and pretreatment methods to hyphenated analytical systems based on LC–MS/MS, for the analysis of small molecules in complex biological matrices. The interest of the bioanalytical scientific community today is twofold: on the one hand, we have the continuous development and engineering of cutting-edge analytical technologies, able to push the boundaries in terms of sensitivity and specificity.
On the other hand, those who get their hands dirty in bioanalysis know that a trustworthy quantitative result starts with effective and reproducible sampling, followed by the preanalytical steps.
Procedure miniaturization is designed to respond to scenarios where there is the need for on-field or at-home sampling, in remote areas or at least out of the laboratory when there is the need for a higher subject compliance, whenever sample amounts are necessarily reduced, when there is the need for automatable high-throughput procedures, when rapid execution and low costs are advisable, while ensuring accuracy and reproducibility of results. In our laboratory, we work closely also with nonacademic institutions just in order to deeply understand what the actual needs are in real settings.
Could you please provide a brief summary of your career to date?
I am Assistant Professor in Medicinal Chemistry at the Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology of the School of Pharmacy, Biotechnology and Sport Science at Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna (Italy). Since 2013 I have been Head of the Laboratory of Pharmaco-Toxicological Analysis, where I coordinate the research and didactic activities of the group.
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