Predicting flu outbreaks – sensor technology holds promise
Researchers win 3-year grant to expand research into new sensor technology.
Scientists at Wright State University (OH, USA) are to collaborate with researchers at Indiana University (IN, USA), Redondo Optics Inc. (CA, USA) and the University of Tennessee (TN, USA) on a project to develop a virus detection system, based on the resonant signatures of virus particles under gigahertz to terahertz radiation. The researchers have been awarded a US $625,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop the technology.
The system is based on research demonstrating that the capsid shells of certain viruses vibrate resonantly, and thus their presence in a sample could be detected by irradiating the sample and analyzing its signature in the electromagnetic spectrum. The sample is first immobilized to a nanofluidic chip; similar to microfluidic chips commonly used in bioanalysis studies. Analysis is performed using a terahertz spectrometer, which was first developed 6 years ago. Recently, a more compact field-deployable version has been developed.
The team hopes that the device, once marketed, will be employed at airports. As Elliot Brown (Wright State University, OH, USA) explains, “Ultimately, if we’re going to put these sensors in every airport in the USA, they have to be fieldable and affordable”. The team currently cost the instrument at approximately US $50,000 – however, after development they predict this dropping to below US $20,000.
The team envisage the device will being able to detect viruses within minutes, and explain that the technology allows detection of even very small concentrations of virus particles, as Brown explains, “This is important is because viruses are known to spread even at very low levels.”
The ultimate aim is that the device will allow detection of new virus strains before an outbreak, for instance when they enter a country at an airport. As Brown explains, “We would be monitoring viruses in near real time. This technology will allow us to detect the presence of viruses like the flu before an outbreak. It will give us predictive capabilities.” Brown continues, “We’re going to turn back the clock and be able to predict the arrival of the flu weeks ahead of time compared to what we can do today.”
In addition to predicting outbreaks, the technology may allow optimization of vaccine production, and provide important research into virus structure. As Brown concludes, “This technology has the potential to revolutionize disease detection, vaccine R&D, disease monitoring and outbreaks of all sorts.”
Source: Catching the bug – Wright State researchers developing virus-detection technology.
