Dutch researchers use laser light to quickly identify pathogens
Device offers a unique approach to the handheld virus detection challenge; laser light interacts with antibodies to create distinctive patterns that indicate high concentrations; prototype to be developed with help from Paradocs Group
Had enough reports about handheld devices that quickly and accurately identify pathogens? We hope not, because such systems are in ever-growing demand, and the market is far from deciding which approaches are the best. Consider today an offering from Dutch researchers at the University of Twente.
According to Technology Review:
the “device uses a silicon substrate containing channels that guide laser light [to which the researchers attach antibodies that bind to the virus]. Light enters into the substrate at one end and is split into four parallel beams. When these beams emerge at the other end, they spread out and overlap with one another, creating a pattern of bright and dark bands, known as an interference pattern, which the researchers record.”
By performing the experiment at different virus concentrations, the researchers have been able to establish fixed relationships between the strength of the virus and the resulting light pattern. The entire test takes only a few minutes.
So far, the researchers have only tested the sensor for the herpes-simplex virus, and the device is only proven to detect very high levels of virus concentration. The researchers are now working with the Tiel, Netherlands-based company Paradocs Group BV to develop a commercial prototype of the sensor, and among the team’s tasks will be to improve accuracy at lower concentrations and expand the technology’s range to other types of viruses. “This is one of the first demonstrations of a biosensor technique that could be [practical] for viruses, and it has the sensitivity required for early detection,” David Gottfried of Georgia Tech Research Insitute said.
-read more in Prachi Patel-Predd Technology Review report
