Affiliations

• Materials Science and Engineering
• Bioengineering

Education Profile

• Postdoctoral Associate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, 2021
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, 2020
• Ph.D. Bioengineering, Imperial College London, UK, 2019
• B.Eng. and M.Eng. Biomedical Engineering, Imperial College London, UK, 2015

Research Interests

​Dr Al-Sulaiman's research focuses on the development of next generation biosensing platforms to detect an emerging class of disease biomarkers called cell-free nucleic acids including microRNA and cell-free DNA. At the intersection between polymeric biomaterials and microtechnologies, her research includes advancements in hydrogel beads, microparticles, microneedles and microarrays. She is also interested in single-molecule detection technologies, namely nanopore sensors, for the detection and characterization of rare disease biomarkers. Dr Al-Sulaiman's research aims to tackle urgent clinical needs including early detection and monitoring of cancer and Alzheimer's disease in addition to understanding the skin microbiome.

Selected Publications

• Al Sulaiman, Dana, Alfie Gatehouse, Aleksandar P. Ivanov, Joshua B. Edel, and Sylvain Ladame. "Length-Dependent, Single-Molecule Analysis of Short Double-Stranded DNA Fragments through Hydrogel-Filled Nanopores: A Potential Tool for Size Profiling Cell-Free DNA." ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2021).
• Al Sulaiman, Dana, Sarah J. Shapiro, Jose Gomez-Marquez, and Patrick S. Doyle. "High-Resolution Patterning of Hydrogel Sensing Motifs within Fibrous Substrates for Sensitive and Multiplexed Detection of Biomarkers." ACS Sensors (2020).
• Al Sulaiman, Dana, Jason YH Chang, Nitasha R. Bennett, Helena Topouzi, Claire A. Higgins, Darrell J. Irvine, and Sylvain Ladame. "Hydrogel-coated microneedle arrays for minimally invasive sampling and sensing of specific circulating nucleic acids from skin interstitial fluid." ACS Nano 13, no. 8 (2019): 9620-9628.
• Al Sulaiman, Dana, Paolo Cadinu, Aleksandar P. Ivanov, Joshua B. Edel, and Sylvain Ladame. "Chemically modified hydrogel-filled nanopores: a tunable platform for single-molecule sensing." Nano Letters 18, no. 9 (2018): 6084-6093.
• Al Sulaiman, Dana, Jason YH Chang, and Sylvain Ladame. "Subnanomolar detection of oligonucleotides through templated fluorogenic reaction in hydrogels: controlling diffusion to improve sensitivity." Angewandte Chemie International Edition 56, no. 19 (2017): 5247-5251.