Gold Plate with Thousands of Tiny Sensors for Rapid Disease Detection
 

Gold Plate with Thousands of Tiny Sensors for Rapid Disease Detection
[IMG]http://cdn.medgadget.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/na**holes-diag**stics.jpg[/IMG]LEFT: The system being developed by UH Cullen College of Engineering researchers diag**ses disease by blocking holes with pathogens and some other connected material, in this case silver particles, preventing light from shining through. RIGHT: This is a close-up of na**holes blocked by these particles. Credit: Jiming Bao Research Group


While there already highly accurate methods of detecting all sorts of diseases, being able to reduce the size, cost, and ease of use of diag**stic devices can help spot disease earlier, get more people screened, and improve the effectiveness of therapy. Researchers at University of Houston have developed a new device that, with the help of a smartphone, can detect diseases that have k**wn antibodies against them.

The system relies on a gold plate with thousands of holes, each*600 na**meters wide, created within its surface. To test for a disease, antibodies that are disease-specific are spread into the holes within the plate. Then a body fluid that is being tested is dripped over the plate, allowing antibodies within the holes to stick to the pathogen being searched for. To make the test readable, a solution with the same antibodies, but with enzymes that produce silver na**particles attached, is poured over the plate. The antibodies again stick to the pathogen, but this time the silver na**particles produced within fifteen minutes after the reaction are able to block holes within the plate so that light can**t pass through. A simple microscope can be used to visualize the resulting plate to see how many holes become opaque.

The researchers envision the final component being performed using a smartphone with a special lens attachment to quickly count the opaque holes. The whole process takes about 20 minutes and by having different holes contain different antibodies, the same plate should be able to detect a variety of diseases.

Study in ACS Photonics: Transmissive Na**hole Arrays for Massively-Parallel Optical Biosensing…

University of Houston: Diag**sing diseases in real time with smartphones…

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