
Biography
I obtained my PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology by the University of Valencia with the thesis entitled "Development of monoclonal antibody-based immunoassays for the determination of the insecticide azinphos-methyl in environmental waters and in fruit juices". Subsequently, I carried out a two-year postdoctoral stage at the Technical University of Munich, thanks to a Marie Curie Research Grant, with the aim of generating recombinant molecular receptors specific of small organic chemicals. Afterwards, I was engaged with private research during several years; first, in Lyon, at the company BioMérieux where I studied innovative analytical strategies applied to the microbiological safety of food, and then, in Barcelona, at the Food Diagnostics division of UCB Pharma where I developed commercial tests for the detection of veterinary drugs in milk.
Nowadays, I am a member of the Food Analytical Immunotechnology group located at the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA), which belongs to the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) - the largest public R&D institution in Spain. Our research is focused on practical and basic subjects concerning the generation of high-quality functionalized haptens, conjugates, and bioreceptors of chemical residues and contaminants that are potentially present in food. A relevant collection of derivatives of analytical targets as well as polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies has been raised and is being kept at the IATA. Moreover, novel rapid methods have been developed and validated for the analysis of a significant number of toxic xenobiotics in a wide variety of foodstuffs.
Projects





Publications
Esteve-Turrillas FA, Agulló C, Abad-Somovilla A, MERCADER JV, Abad-Fuentes A. Fungicide multiresidue monitoring in international wines by immunoassay. Food Chemistry 2016, 196, 1279‒1286. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2015.10.102.
Ceballos-Alcantarilla E, Agulló C, Abad-Fuentes A, Abad-Somovilla A, MERCADER JV. Rational design of a fluopyram hapten and preparation of bioconjugates and antibodies for immunoanalysis. RSC Advances 2015, 5, 51337‒51341. DOI: 10.1039/C5RA09124A.
Esteve-Turrillas FA, MERCADER JV, Parra J, Agulló C, Abad-Somovilla A, Abad-Fuentes A. Ready access to proquinazid haptens via cross-coupling chemistry for antibody generation and immunoassay development. PLoS One 2015, 10(7), e0134042. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0134042.
Esteve-Turrillas FA, Abad-Somovilla A, Quiñones-Reyes G, Agulló C, MERCADER JV, Abad-Fuentes A. Monoclonal antibody-based immunoassays for cyprodinil residue analysis in QuEChERS-based fruit extracts. Food Chemistry 2015, 187, 530‒536. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2015.04.119.
Abad-Fuentes A, Ceballos-Alcantarilla E, MERCADER JV, Agulló C, Abad-Somovilla A, Esteve-Turrillas FA. Development and validation of a liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method for the determination of succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor fungicide residues in fruits and vegetables. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 2015, 407, 4207‒4211. DOI: 10.1007/s00216-015-8608-3.
Esteve-Turrillas FA, MERCADER JV, Agulló C, Abad-Somovilla A, Abad-Fuentes A. Site-heterologous haptens and competitive monoclonal antibody-based immunoassays for pyrimethanil residue analysis in foodstuffs. LWT – Food Science and Technology 2015, 63, 604‒611. DOI: 10.1016/j.lwt.2015.03.074.
Esteve-Turrillas FA, MERCADER JV, Agulló C, Abad-Somovilla A, Abad-Fuentes A. Moiety and linker-site heterologies for highly sensitive immunoanalysis of cyprodinil in fermented alcoholic drinks. Food Control 2015, 50, 393–400. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodcont.2014.09.023.
MERCADER JV, Abad-Fuentes A, Agulló C, Abad-Somovilla A, Esteve-Turrillas FA. Development of a sensitive and specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the determination of fludioxonil residues in fruit juices. Analytical Methods – UK 2014, 6, 8924–8929. DOI: 10.1039/c4ay01756k.
Ceballos-Alcantarilla E, Abad-Fuentes A, Aloisio V, Agulló C, Abad-Somovilla A, MERCADER JV. Haptens, bioconjugates, and antibodies for penthiopyrad immunosensing. Analyst 2014, 139, 5358–5361. DOI: 10.1039/c4an00828f.
Esteve-Turrillas FA, MERCADER JV, Agulló C, Marzo J, Abad-Somovilla A, Abad-Fuentes A. Design and development of heterologous competitive immunoassays for the determination of boscalid residues. Analyst 2014, 139, 3636–3644. DOI: 10.1039/c3an01104f.
López-Moreno R, MERCADER JV, Esteve-Turrillas FA, Abad-Somovilla A, Abad-Fuentes A. Immunoassays for trifloxystrobin analysis. Part II: Assay development and application to residue determination in food. Food Chemistry 2014, 162, 41–46. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2014.04.053.
López-Moreno R, MERCADER JV, Agulló C, Abad-Somovilla A, Abad-Fuentes A. Immunoassays for trifloxystrobin analysis. Part I: Synthesis of regioisomeric haptens and production of monoclonal antibodies. Food Chemistry 2014, 152, 230–236. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2013.11.150.
Abad-Fuentes A, Agulló C, Esteve-Turrillas FA, Abad-Somovilla A, MERCADER JV. Immunoreagents and competitive assays to fludioxonil. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2014, 62, 2742–2744. DOI: 10.1021/jf5001716.
MERCADER JV, López-Moreno R, Esteve-Turrillas FA, Agulló C, Abad-Somovilla A, Abad-Fuentes A. Sensitive monoclonal antibody-based immunoassays for kresoxim-methyl analysis in QuEChERS-based food extracts. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2014, 62, 2816–2821. DOI: 10.1021/jf500287t.
López-Moreno R, MERCADER JV, Agulló C, Abad-Somovilla A, Abad-Fuentes A. Structure–immunogenicity relationship of kresoxim-methyl regioisomeric haptens. Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry 2013, 11, 7361–7371. DOI: 10.1039/C3OB41570H.
Parra J, Abad-Somovilla A, MERCADER JV, Taton TA, Abad-Fuentes A. Carbon nanotube-protein carriers enhance size-dependent self-adjuvant antibody response to haptens. Journal of Controlled Release 2013, 170, 242–251. DOI: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2013.05.019.
Esteve-Turrillas FA, MERCADER JV, Agulló C, Abad-Somovilla A, Abad-Fuentes A. Mepanipyrim haptens and antibodies with nanomolar affinity. Analyst 2013, 138, 3360–3364. DOI: 10.1039/c3an00228d.
MERCADER JV, Agulló C, Esteve-Turrillas FA, Abad-Somovilla A, Abad-Fuentes A. Immunoassays for pyraclostrobin analysis in processed food products using novel monoclonal antibodies and QuEChERS-based extracts. Food Control 2013, 32, 42–48 . DOI: 10.1016/j.foodcont.2012.12.003.
MERCADER JV, Esteve-Turrillas, FA, Agulló C, Abad-Somovilla A, Abad-Fuentes A. Antibody generation and immunoassay development in diverse formats for pyrimethanil specific and sensitive analysis. Analyst 2012, 137, 5672–5679. DOI: 10.1039/c2an35801h.
Abad-Fuentes A, Esteve-Turrillas FA, Agulló C, Abad-Somovilla A, MERCADER JV. Development of competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for boscalid determination in fruit juices. Food Chemistry 2012, 135, 276−284. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2012.04.090.
Mauriz E, García-Fernández C, MERCADER JV, Abad-Fuentes A, Lechuga LM. Direct surface plasmon resonance immunosensing of pyraclostrobin residues in untreated fruit juices. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 2012, 404, 2877–2886. DOI: 10.1007/s00216-012-6321-z.
MERCADER JV, Parra J, Esteve-Turrillas FA, Agulló C, Abad-Somovilla A, Abad-Fuentes A. Development of monoclonal antibody-based competitive immunoassays for the detection of picoxystrobin in cereal and oilseed flours. Food Control 2012, 26, 162−168. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodcont.2012.01.021.
Suárez-Pantaleón C, Esteve-Turrillas FA, MERCADER JV, Agulló C, Abad-Somovilla A, Abad-Fuentes A. Development and validation of a monoclonal antibody-based immunoassay for the determination of forchlorfenuron residues in fruit samples. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 2012, 403, 2019−2026. DOI: 10.1007/s00216-012-5991-x.
Esteve-Turrillas FA, Agulló C, Abad-Fuentes A, Abad-Somovilla A, MERCADER JV. Immunoreagent generation and competitive assay development for cyprodinil analysis. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2012, 60, 4803−4811. DOI: 10.1021/jf300319n.
Parra J, MERCADER JV, Agulló C, Abad-Somovilla A, Abad-Fuentes A. Synthesis of azoxystrobin transformation products and selection of monoclonal antibodies for immunoassay development. Toxicology Letters 2012, 210, 240−247. DOI: 10.1016/j.toxlet.2011.07.030.
Parra J, MERCADER JV, Agulló C, Abad-Fuentes A, Abad-Somovilla A. Generation of anti-azoxystrobin monoclonal antibodies from regioisomeric haptens functionalized at selected sites and development of indirect competitive immunoassays. Analytica Chimica Acta 2012, 715, 105−112. DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2011.12.014.
Suárez-Pantaleón C, MERCADER JV, Agulló C, Abad-Somovilla A, Abad-Fuentes A. Forchlorfenuron-mimicking haptens: from immunogen design to antibody characterization by hierarchical clustering analysis. Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry 2011, 9, 4863−4872. DOI: 10.1039/c1ob05190c.
Parra J, Esteve-Turrillas FA, Abad-Somovilla A, Agulló C, Abad-Fuentes A, MERCADER JV. Exploring alternative hapten tethering sites for high-affinity anti-picoxystrobin antibody generation. Analytical Biochemistry 2011, 416, 82−91. DOI: 10.1016/j.ab.2011.05.016.
Esteve-Turrillas FA, MERCADER JV, Agulló C, Abad-Somovilla A, Abad-Fuentes A. Development of immunoaffinity columns for pyraclostrobin extraction from fruit juices and analysis by liquid chromatography with UV detection. Journal of Chromatography A 2011, 1218, 4902−4909. DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2011.03.022.
MERCADER JV, Agulló C, Abad-Somovilla A, Abad-Fuentes A. Synthesis of site-heterologous haptens for high-affinity anti-pyraclostrobin antibody generation. Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry 2011, 9, 1443−1453. DOI: 10.1039/c0ob00686f.
Esteve-Turrillas FA, Abad-Fuentes A, MERCADER JV. Determination of fenhexamid residues in grape must, kiwifruit, and strawberry samples by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Food Chemistry 2011, 124, 1727−1733. DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2010.07.112.
Parra J, MERCADER JV, Agulló C, Abad-Fuentes A, Abad-Somovilla A. Concise and modular synthesis of regioisomeric haptens for the production of high-affinity and stereoselective antibodies to the strobilurin fungicide azoxystrobin. Tetrahedron 2011, 67, 624−635. DOI: 10.1016/j.tet.2010.11.054.
Patents
- Request number:P201531661Title:Preparation of bioconjugates and antibodies for the immunodetection of anatoxin-aDate of the request:Tuesday, 17 November, 2015
- Request number:P201231583Title:Functionalized derivatives and immunoreagents for the fungicide fludioxonilDate of the request:Tuesday, 16 October, 2012
- Request number:P201230098Title:Haptens, conjugates, and antibodies for the fungicide pyrimethanilDate of the request:Wednesday, 25 January, 2012
- Request number:P201131641Title:Haptens, conjugates, and antibodies for the fungicide cyprodinilDate of the request:Thursday, 13 October, 2011
- Request number:P201031671Title:Functionalized derivatives of boscalidDate of the request:Friday, 12 November, 2010
- Request number:FR03/04262Title:Method for detecting and/or identifying bacteria present in a sampleDate of the request:Monday, 7 April, 2003