January 22, 2007
Handheld Nanotechnology Sensor Enables Point-of-Scare Screening
Scientists of the Biophysical Engineering Group of the University of Twente in The Netherlands have developed an ultrasensitive sensor that can be used in a handheld device to, within minutes, detect various viruses and measure their concentration. The sensor could be used to quickly screen people at hospitals, airports and emergency clinics to control outbreaks of diseases...
All it would take is a tiny sample of saliva, blood, or other body fluid. Dr. Aurel Ymeti and others present their results in February’s issue of Nano Letters
The essential innovation in the technique reported in this paper is the combining of an integrated optics interferometric (see wiki article: interferometer) sensor with antibody-antigen recognition approaches to yield a very sensitive, very rapid test for virus detection. The technology is amenable to miniaturization and mass-production, and thus has significant potential to be developed into a handheld, point-of-care device.
press release | Nanowerk News
~"Point-of-scare" does not appear via Google as many times as one might think.
[illus. google not Nanowerk]
Posted by Stubbornson at January 22, 2007 05:28 PM