The authors draw a parallel with moths attracted to a flame: microbes can also be attracted and moved by light. This is the principle of this method, which allows the presence of viruses to be detected quickly and using only a small blood sample.
A “light-induced immunoassay”
The study uses laser light for less than a minute, a plasmonic substrate printed with nanoparticles with a series of nanobolic structures (500 nm in diameter for each) that can be coated with antibodies against the spike proteins of the novel coronavirus. A 5 milliwatt laser, as weak as commercial laser pointers, allows bubbles to form on the biochip that attract nanoparticles mimicking the virus, thus accelerating the selective detection of particles.
- Light-induced convection helps move the nanoparticles so that they eventually assemble in the stagnant region between the substrate surface and the bottom of the bubble:
- The entire process, from substrate coating to detection, is completed in less than 5 minutes.
It therefore appears possible to shorten the tedious process of coating antibodies and achieve extremely rapid and highly sensitive detection of Spike proteinsbut also other viral proteins, the researchers point out.
With the key, early diagnosis not only the new coronavirus, but perhaps also many infectious diseases and even cancers.
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