Researchers Develop New Biosensor for Early Disease Detection

Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly) researchers have developed an ultra-sensitive biosensor that can detect even the smallest single virus particles in solution, contributing to early detection of disease.

Along with Stephen Arnold, researchers of NYU-Poly's MicroParticle PhotoPhysics Laboratory for BioPhotonics (MP3L) have presented their findings in the latest issue of Applied Physics Letters, which is published by the American Institute of Physics.

The new technique marks a breakthrough in series of experiments for developing a high sensitive diagnostic method for identification and measurement of a single virus particle in any medical environment.

By intensifying the sensitivity of a biosensor, researchers detected the smallest RNA virus particle MS2, with only 6 attograms of mass. Light from a tunable laser is focused down a fiber optic cable, where its intensity is measured by a far end-positioned detector. When a small glass sphere touches the fiber, the light's path becomes deviated, making it to orbit within the sphere. This alteration is considered as a resonant dip in the transmission via the fiber. A sphere experiences changes in its properties when brought in contact with a viral particle. As a result, there occurs detectable shift in resonance frequency.

For increasing sensitivity in order to detect the smallest particles, Arnold and his team attached gold nano-receptors to the resonant microsphere. The electric field will be increased as the receptors are plasmonic, and even the small disturbances can be easily detected. Each of the gold "hot spot" is integrated with specific molecules on which viruses or proteins are bound.

The smallest RNA virus in solution was successfully detected and the researchers are continuing their work to detect single proteins.

Co authored with postdoctoral fellow Siyka Shopova and graduate student Raaj Rajmangal, this patent-pending technology can be adopted in a point-of-care device that can effectively detect viruses or disease markers in urine, blood, or saliva. The technology is now being tested for commercial applications.

Dubbed ‘Whispering Gallery-Mode Biosensor’, named after the Whispering Gallery in the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral in London, the sensor marks a unique feat in Arnold’s innovation.

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