Natalia Bourguignon is one of the Post-Docs in our mems group. With extensive education and knowledge she has a diverse research interest and contributes to the community.

Education

• Postdoctoral Scholar, Universidad Tecnológica Nacional & Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental (IBYME), Buenos Aires, 2016-18
• PhD in Biological Sciences, Facultad de Bioquímica, Química y Farmacia, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Planta Piloto de Procesos Industriales Microbiológicos (PROIMI), San Miguel de Tucumán, 2011-16
• Bachelor in Biotechnology, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, San Miguel de Tucumán, 2004-10.

Current Research Interest

• Microfluidic devices for infectious biofilm formation and antibiofilm treatment in continuous flow conditions The microfluidic co-cultivation platform enables accurate environmental control, observation of interactions inside microbial biofilm and  measurement of cell accumulation rates with high spatio-temporal resolution This research will address the need for reliable and accurate drug screening assessment platform with continuous flow for the treatment of infectious biofilm. These new technology bring advantages in comparison with the macroscale standard microbiologic techniques used to now for biofilm studies, such as the use of smaller volumes of fluids for testing and the possibility of having exhaustive control of the conditions.
• Microfluidic devices for the assessment and screening of PAHs removal capacity by bacterial biofilms The research proposes the development and application of “Lab on a Chip” type microfluidics devices for use in the area of ​​oil bioremediation. The general aim is to obtain innovative prototypes applicable to wastewater and industrial effluents, taking into account that hydrocarbon contamination in watercourses is a critical worldwide environmental problem.
• Design and manufacture of double layer SU-8 resin based mods with a concentration gradient generator for “Lab-on-a-chip” The importance of the innovative LOC technology with a concentration gradient generator offered a new approach for large-scale drug screening using non-adherent cells microarray, and it can be used as tools to actively mimic and modulate parameters of the culture environment. The novel design of the LOC device allows the testing of few different drug concentration in parallel and because its two height dimension allows the growth of non-adherent cells  by mechanical trapping.
• “Lab-on-a-chip” device for 3D anti–cancer drug discovery in spheroids at dynamics conditions The main goal of this project is the development of a LOC microfluidic spheroid culture device with a concentration gradient generator for evaluating the efficacy of cancer drugs to suppress spheroids formation. The device allows isolating and studying cell characteristics, biological markers, and the biologic behavior of Cancer Stem Cells (CSCs) at a single-cell level to spheroids in 3D perfused at different drug concentrations in dynamic controlled flow conditions.

Recent Publications

1. Pérez, A. Sanluis-Verdes, A. Waisman, A. Lombardi, G. Rosero, A. La Greca, S. Bhansali,  N. Bourguignon,  C. Luzzani, M.S. Pérez, S. Miriuka, B. Lerner “Single cell transfection of human induced pluripotent stem cells using a droplet-based microfluidic system” https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.09.143214.
2. N. Bourguignon, V. Irazusta, P. Isaac, C. Estévez, D. Maizel, MA. Ferrero “Identification of proteins induced by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon and proposal of the phenanthrene catabolic pathway in Amycolatopsis tucumanensis DSM 45259.” Ecotoxicology and environmental safety 175 (2019): 19-28.
3. N. Bourguignon, V. A. Kamat, B. Lerner, M.Perez, S. Bhansali, “The Use of Lab on a Chip Devices to Evaluate Infectious Biofilm Formation and Assess Antibiotics and Nano Drugs Treatments” Meeting Abstracts, 44, 2103-2103, 2019.
4. D. Ruiz-Perez, J. Lugo-Martinez, N. Bourguignon, B. Lerner, Z. Bar-Joseph, G. Narasimhan “Dynamic Bayesian networks for integrating multi-omics time-series microbiome data.” (2019).
5. N. Bourguignon, CM. Olmos, M. Sierra‐Rodero, A. Peñaherrera, G. Rosero, P. Pineda, K. Vizuete, CR. Arroyo, L. Cumbal, C. Lasorsa, MS. Perez, B. Lerner “Accessible and Cost‐Effective Method of PDMS Microdevices Fabrication Using a Reusable Photopolymer Mold.” Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics 56.21 (2018): 1433-1442.
6. N. Bourguignon, C. Attallah, P. Karp, R. Booth, A. Peñaherrera, C. Payés, M. Oggero, MS. Pérez, G. Helguera, B. Lerner “Production of monoclonal antibodies in microfluidic devices.” Integrative Biology 10.3 (2018): 136-144.