The portable detector platform, comprising plasmonic nanohole arrays (PNAs), can be adapated for hospitals, malls, and airports
A team of researchers headed by Hatice Altug (ECE) and John Connor (Microbiology) has developed a novel biosensor that directly detects live viruses from biological samples even without sample preparation. They have reported on this breakthrough in the November 5 online edition of Nano Letters.
The biosensor comprises plasmonic nanohole arrays (PNAs), or arrays of apertures with diameters of about 250 to 350 nanometers on metallic films, that transmit light more strongly at certain wavelengths.
A live virus (e.g., Ebola, monkeypox, or smallpox virus) in blood or serum, for example, can bind to the sensor surface. A change in the effective refractive index in the close vicinity of the sensor will shift the resonance frequency of the light transmitted through the PNAs. The degree of this shift reveals the presence and the concentration of the virus in the solution.
“Unlike PCR and ELISA approaches, our method does not require enzymatic amplification of a signal or fluorescent tagging of a product, so samples can be read immediately following pathogen binding,” said Altug.
“Our platform can be easily adapted for point-of-care diagnostics to detect a broad range of viral pathogens in resource-limited clinical settings at the far corners of the world, in defense and homeland security applications as well as in civilian settings such as airports," he added.
The project is partly funded through the Boston University Photonics Center and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL), and in collaboration with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases.
Reference: Dwortzan, M. 2010, November. Novel Biosensor Could Enable Rapid, Point-of-Care Virus Detection. Boston University College of Engineering. Retrieved November 23, 2010. Accessed at http://www.bu.edu/phpbin/news-cms/news/?dept=666&id=57142.
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