Interest in extracellular vesicles and in particular microvesicles and exosomes, which are constitutively produced by cells, is on the rise for their huge potential as biomarkers in a high number of disorders and pathologies as they are considered as carriers of information among cells, as well as being responsible for the spreading of diseases. Current methods of analysis of microvesicles and exosomes do not fulfill the requirements for their in-depth investigation and the complete exploitation of their diagnostic and prognostic value. Lab-on-chip methods have the potential and capabilities to bridge this gap and the technology is mature enough to provide all the necessary steps for a completely automated analysis of extracellular vesicles in body fluids. In this paper we provide an overview of the biological role of extracellular vesicles, standard biochemical methods of analysis and their limits, and a survey of lab-on-chip methods that are able to meet the needs of a deeper exploitation of these biological entities to drive their use in common clinical practice.

Food pathogens frequently cause foodborne diseases. There is a need to rapidly identify the source of the bacteria in order to contain their spread and epidemics. A pre-enrichment culture or a direct culture on agar plate are standard microbiological methods. In this review, we present an update on alternative molecular methods to nucleic acid-based detection for species identification. Biosensor-based methods rely on the recognition of antigen targets or receptors by antibodies, aptamers or high-affinity ligands. The captured antigens may be then directly or indirectly detected through an antibody or high-affinity and high-specificity recognition molecule. Various different detection methods are discussed, from label-free sensors and immunosensors to fluorescence-based ones. Each method shows advantages and disadvantages in terms of equipment, sensitivity, simplicity and cost-effectiveness. Finally, lab-on-a-chip (LOC) devices are introduced briefly, with the potential to be fast, sensitive and useful for on-site bacteria detection in food processing laboratories to check potential contamination by sample monitoring combined with a rapid pre-enrichment step.

Oil wastewater and spilled oil have caused serious environmental pollution and damage to public health in the past few years. Therefore, considerable efforts are being made to develop sorbent materials that are able to separate oil from water with high selectivity and sorption capacity. However most of them exhibit low reusability, with low volume absorption capacity and poor mechanical properties. Moreover, their synthesis is time-consuming, complex and expensive, limiting their practical application in the case of an emergency. Here we propose an innovative approach for the fabrication of porous PDMS starting from an inverse water-in-silicone procedure able to selectively collect oil from water in a few seconds. The synthesis is dramatically faster than previous approaches, permitting the fabrication of the material in a few minutes independent of the dimensions of the sponges. The porous material possessed a higher volume sorption capacity with respect to other materials already proposed for oil sorption from water and excellent mechanical and reusability properties. This innovative, fast and simple approach can be successful in the case of an emergency, such as an oil spill accident, permitting in situ fabrication of porous absorbents.

Magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles have been extensively investigated due to their applications in various fields such as biomedicine, sensing, and environmental remediation. However, they need to be coated with a suitable material in order to make them biocompatible and to add new functionalities on their surface. This review is intended to give a comprehensive overview of recent advantages and applications of iron oxide nanoparticles coated by polydopamine film. The synthesis method of magnetic nanoparticles, their functionalization with bioinspired materials and (in particular) with polydopamine are discussed. Finally, some interesting applications of polydopamine-coated magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles will be pointed out.