Jekaterina Mazina-Šinkar

The rapid emergence of new illegal drugs (HHC, nitazenes, synthetic cathinones, etc.) creates a need for fast, on-site drug testing tools that can detect multiple substances in biofluids. These tools are crucial for clinicians, anti-doping experts, and law enforcement. Multiplexed portable analytical tools have a great potential to be implemented for this purposes. Moreover, such kind of instruments could be utilized in personal healthcare monitoring by enabling early-stage diagnostics of health problems. This project aims to develop electrophoresis-based analytical tools for reliable, fast and cost-effective metabolism studies in vitro, revealing the characteristics and metabolic pathways of new psychoactive substances. Additionally, new on-site biofluid testing tools (focused on oral fluid) will be developed for detecting new drugs. The results of this project will enhance drug monitoring, support public health, and improve safety.