Name: Elena Guerrero San Vicente

Job title: Researcher

Panacea project partner:  Leitat

Panacea project work packages: WP1, WP2, WP3, WP4

Q1. What is your personal area of expertise?

My expertise is on the research and development of biosensors (analytical devices incorporating biological material) and point-of-care detection systems. My knowledge goes from chemistry and biological assays to microfluidics and 3D-printing.

Q2. What are you currently working on for the Panacea project?

For the PANACEA project, Leitat’s team is working on the development of a point-of-care biosensor for drug molecule detection in driver saliva samples.

Q3. Tell us about one particularly striking thing that you learned from your latest research for the project.

I have learnt that even though benzodiazepines are medicines/drugs well known to impair driving, in Spain there is no roadside test to detect them in drivers’ saliva samples.

Q4. Explain how you think this will help the Panacea project achieve its aims of improving fitness to drive among professional transport workers.

The PANACEA project will assess the development, optimisation, and evaluation of a highly sensitive point-of-care device for saliva analysis of drugs such as benzodiazepines and methadone.

We think that it is important to study and correlate road safety and drug consumption.