Low cost sensor measures small amounts of antibodies

A new sensor has been developed that measures extremely small amounts of antibodies, the disease-fighting antitoxins found in blood that indicate whether a person is sick.

Using a small wire that is one-fourth the size of a human hair, the researchers from Colorado State University developed a sensor that can detect as few as 10 antibody molecules within 20 minutes. Standard medical testing requires billions or trillions of antibody molecules for detection and can take up to a day to process.

According to the university, this type of cost-effective instrument could help clinicians treat diseases sooner in people and could be used in low-resource settings.

Results from the team's research will be published April 15 in Biosensors and Bioelectronics. The study, titled: An ultra-sensitive capacitive microwire sensor for pathogen-specific serum antibody responses, is published in advance online.