OptiEnz to develop biosensors

Prof Ken Reardon, working in tandem with Cenergy, the university’s commercialisation arm, created OptiEnz Sensors to develop, manufacture and sell the biosensors, which rely on fluorescent light to identify contaminants.

With the devices, contaminants such as melamine, gasoline, solvents and nerve agents can be measured without pre-treating the sample with other chemicals, according to Reardon.

’You can use these biosensors wherever the water is – in a groundwater well, in a lake or in a wastewater treatment plant pipe,’ he said. ’You analyse the water where it is, rather than putting it into bottles for analysis in a remote laboratory.’

The technology relies on optoelectronics as well as biology. Two layers, consisting of a fluorescent chemical and enzymes, are applied to the tip of an optical fibre. When this tip is in contact with a water sample containing a contaminant, the enzymes cause the chemical to react in such a way that the brightness of the fluorescent chemical changes.