Rapid results

Scientists at the University of Twente, Netherlands, have developed an ultra sensitive sensor that can be used in a handheld device to quickly detect various viruses and measure their concentration.

The sensor, developed during the PhD project of Aurel Ymeti, could be used to quickly screen people at hospitals, airports and emergency clinics to control outbreaks of diseases such as SARS and the bird flu. All it would take is a tiny sample of saliva, blood, or other body fluid. Dr. Aurel Ymeti and others will 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 sensor with antibody-antigen recognition approaches to yield a very sensitive, very rapid test for virus detection. The technology can be miniaturized and mass-produced and has the potential to be developed into a handheld, point-of-care device.