Where are the Biosensors and Biochips?

As the flood waters recede in New Orleans, there is a clear need for inexpensive, handheld multipurpose biosensing technology, something like the Star Trek tricorder. This is not a new need triggered by a disaster, but a R&D focus that only increased after 9/11 four years ago.

Much of the progress gets swept under the rubric of microfabrication and nanotechnology, the former much more advanced than the latter, which is really in an early-stage hype-up trajectory.

There are technologies emerging to fill this need, but the pace is slow:

-- Scientists at the Georgia Tech Research Institute are developing an optical waveguide sensor that uses a planar waveguide coated with antibodies and interferometry to detect the presence of a particular strain of avian influenza. The technology is in the proof-of-principle stage, according to an article published in Optics.org.

-- At the University of Rochester Center for Future Health, scientists are developing a prototype portable platform capable of detecting and identifying the presence of multiple biological or chemical agents, according to a report online in Physorg.com.

-- Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, and the National Cancer Institute are developing a lab method for detecting active anthrax proteins within an infected blood sample at extremely low levels, according to a statement on Eurekalert.
The method, which produces results in an hour, is described in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the new method produces unambiguous results in about an hour.

-- In Europe, the Optonanogen project is developing a miniature biosensing device to diagnose DNA searching for biomarkers for diseases such as cancer.

The focus of the project, according to a report in labtechnologist.com, is to develop a system to detect mutations of the BRCA1 gene, which accounts for approximately 2.5 percent to 5 percent of the incidences of breast cancer in women. The system uses a nucleic-acid-coated array of 20 microcantilevers that react when they come into contact with a DNA sample, displaying the genetic irregularity.

This is by no means a complete list, just a snapshot of recent reporting on biosensors.

For more information:

-- Read a report from the European Commission on Nanobiotechnology.

-- Check out lawyers' take on intellectual property strategies in bioinformatics and biochips

-- Study a quick tutorial on military biosensing and biochips from the 2001 book, Opportunities in Biotechnology for Future Army Applications, from the National Academies Press

Tags [biosensing, biosensor, biochip, disease, microbiology]