Hola amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG, hemos recibido información de la Fundación Nacional de Ciencias de Los Estados Unidos, donde nos adelanta los increíbles descubrimientos que los investigadores están realizando lo que sucederá en el futuro, dando una graciosa comparación algo similar como unos algodones de azúcar, serán los trajes...............Olvídese de esa vieja prueba de glucosa. En el futuro, trajes de fibras de luz y llenos de virus podían detectar cantidades traza de moléculas biológicas
More information....
http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/light/?WT.mc_id=USNSF_51
Forget that old glucose test. In the future, suits of light and virus-filled fibers could detect trace amounts of biological molecules
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June 22, 2015
Commonly used health tests, such as pregnancy and blood
sugar tests, involve putting a drop of fluid on a test strip, which is
infused with a substance designed to detect a specific molecule.
The strip acts as a simple biosensor, a device that detects chemicals
with the help of biological molecules such as proteins or enzymes.
These devices work, but are limited in scope and can be imprecise. As anyone who has experienced a false sense of security knows.
Other health tests require time-consuming chemical reactions or bacterial culture.
Researchers funded by the National
Science Foundation (NSF) are creating a new biosensor that uses laser
light, engineered viruses and advanced manufacturing techniques to more
accurately detect the smallest amounts possible of biological
molecules--in our food, in our water and even in our own blood.
Detecting trace amounts of contaminants or medical biomarkers sooner could help safeguard against harm.
Thanks to these technologies, biosensors of the future may no longer be in cardboard boxes, but in fibers woven into clothes.
Whispering galleries of light
The basic mechanism behind these sensors is based on an old phenomenon.
Engineers Elaine Haberer and Nosang Myung at the University of California, Riverside, use laser light to amplify the detection of single particles, a technique known as whispering gallery mode resonators.
Whispering galleries that involve sound have been around for a while.
Famous examples include Grand Central Terminal and St. Paul's Cathedral in London, where the domed geometry of the rooms amplifies the faintest whisper to listeners well outside of earshot.
Whispering galleries of light work much the same way, with waves of photons traveling within a circular space, or cavity.
Any particles within these cavities encounter the waves thousands to
millions of times, changing the light in subtle ways that researchers
can detect.
The modern-day twist is in the shape and makeup of the cavity.
For the Riverside team, the cavity is actually a long, thin fiber
that has specially engineered viruses embedded in it. The laser is
directed perpendicular to the length of the fiber, activating the
sensor.
"So long as the cavity is circular and smooth, you can achieve a
whispering gallery--you can even create one in a water droplet," Haberer
says. "The challenge is to create smooth, durable cavities simply, so
they can be used for different purposes."
Electrified cotton candy
One technique, known as electrospinning, creates long, hair-like fibers made of plastic, metal or ceramics.
This fiber-making process is like making cotton candy, says Myung,
who has worked with nano-sized, bio-manufactured structures for more
than a decade.
"You have a drop of liquid. Spin it. Out comes a long fiber. It's
just like a cotton candy machine, except you apply electrical fields to
spin it up," he says.
This process sounds straightforward, but it's the result of recent
advances in manufacturing that allow these fibers to be made quickly and
cheaply.
The challenge is to make them perfectly smooth and to insert the
viruses that interact with the biological molecules the engineers want
to detect.
Myung and his graduate students can integrate different types of
viruses during the spinning that will enable the sensors to detect
different kinds of molecules. For example, one fiber might detect
glucose while another senses cholesterol.
"It's like making cotton candy that's a different color," Myung says.
Using viruses is another new approach for biosensor technology. Not
only are few--if any--biosensors created by electrospinning, most use enzymes. But enzymes are fragile and don't last long at room temperature, according to Haberer. Viruses have more staying power.
"Viruses are just protein surrounding genetic materials, so they are
more stable than enzymes or antibodies, and we can pack more bio-sensing
molecules on them," Haberer says.
Preliminary tests show the viruses hold up pretty well to the
electrospinning process, but there is some loss. The researchers
continue to refine the process.
(Laser) cavity dwellers
The eventual goal is to densely bundle these fibers together to sense
many molecules at once, and to do so more quickly with less bodily
fluid. That same, single drop of blood could provide all the biological
material that you or your doctor would want to analyze.
"Rapid, on-site detection of biomolecules is critical for healthcare,
environmental monitoring, food safety and quality," says Usha Varshney,
program director in the NSF Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems,
who funds the research. "There is a great demand for novel,
high-performance sensor technologies, able to detect many target
biomolecules within small sample volume at a reduced cost."
The project is part of a larger trend in research being done at the intersection of disciplines, with significant progress coming from unexpected places.
"These cavity materials are novel; no one has done this before,"
Haberer says. "With these fibers, you can imagine different types of
sensors in the future, on different types of surfaces, like in
clothing."
For the short term, the cavities are still fragile and best-suited
for more lab research. Consumers will have to wait a long while for
laser-powered, bio-sensing suits.
To learn more about other light-enabled technologies, visit NSF.gov/light.
| -- | Sarah Bates, NSF (703) 292-7738 sabates@nsf.gov |
Investigators
Nosang Myung
Elaine Haberer
Elaine Haberer
Related Institutions/Organizations
University of California-Riverside
Locations
University of California, Riverside
, California
Related Awards
#1406795 Low-cost
label-free whispering gallery mode electrospun optical biosensor for
simultaneous detection of multiple biomolecules.
Total Grants
$316,000
Related Websites
Height of light: Progress in lasers and other light sources:
Height of light: Progress in lasers and other light sources:
http://www.nsf.gov/eng/special/light/
On the road to ubiquity: NSF support for laser research:
On the road to ubiquity: NSF support for laser research:
This fiber-making process is a lot like making cotton candy, except electric fields are involved.
Credit and Larger Version
Enzymes are fragile and don't last long at room temperature. Viruses have more staying power.
Credit and Larger Version
Whispering galleries have been around for a while. The modern-day twist is in the materials.
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Optical whispering galleries can also be used to detect airborne particles and viruses.
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The National Science Foundation.
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo.com
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