VIDEO: Surface-plasmon-based biosensor enables point-of-care detection of dengue-fever virus

Researchers at the University of Ottawa (UO; Ottawa, ON, Canada) and the University of Malaya (UM; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) have collaborated to develop a plasmonic biosensor for rapid diagnosis of the dengue virus, which affects a half billion people each year. The sensor can lead to inexpensive, point-of-care detection of dengue fever. The research is described in a new video published online by the SPIE Newsroom (see below).

Pierre Berini, University Research Chair in Surface Plasmon Photonics at UO and director of the university's Centre for Research in Photonics, worked with visiting PhD student Wei Ru Wong from UM on the biosensor.

The new technology uses surface plasmons on gold films to create a microfluidic biosensor able to detect dengue antibodies. It uses the dengue virus itself as the detection means, according to Berini. When antibodies meet the virus on the surface of the waveguide, a change in optical intensity reveals a positive test.

The mosquito-borne virus is the cause of dengue fever, which is classified by the World Health Organization as one of 17 "neglected tropical diseases." Common in urban areas in tropical climates in Asia, Africa, and Central and South America, dengue fever can lead to complications such as internal bleeding and even death.

Current disease diagnosis methods require detection with a laboratory cell culture within the first seven days of infection, but it is expensive, and many patients do not seek medical attention within that period.

"Early and accurate detection of viral disease generally leads to more effective treatment," Berini says. "This technology could enable rapid, cost-effective screening of dengue infection in people—and potentially, of other diseases as well."

Possible use for ebola, too

Berini and his fellow researches envision a widely deployed, point-of-care, rapid detection technology for dengue that is cheap and user friendly. Once fully developed and successfully tested on patients, the technology has great potential to impact public health and patient management. The principle could also be applied to other diseases such as ebola, Berini says, since ebola is also a virus.

UM professors Shamala Devi Sekaran and Faisal Rafiq Mahamd Adikan also contributed to the research.

Source: http://spie.org/x112099.xml