Laboratory Equipment

Spider Silk Can Be Used for Biosensors, Lasers, Microchips

Spiders use their silk to catch lunch. Now physicists are using it to catch light. New research shows that natural silk could be an eco-friendly alternative to more traditional ways of manipulating light, such as through glass or plastic fiber optic cables. Two teams independently exploring possible applications for the material’s photonic talents will present their latest breakthroughs at the Optical Society’s (OSA) Annual Meeting, Frontiers in Optics (FiO) 2012.

Biomedical engineer Fiorenzo Omenetto of Tufts Univ. in Boston will discuss his group’s work fabricating concoctions of proteins that make use of silk’s optical properties for implantable sensors and other biology-technology interfaces.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2012/10/spider-silk-can-be-used-biosensors-lasers-microchips

New Biosensor Detects Trace Contaminants in Liquids

A whole new class of biosensor that can detect exceptionally small traces of contaminants in liquids in just 40 minutes has been developed by a Univ. of New South Wales-led team of researchers.

Known as a biochemiresistor, it meets a long-standing challenge to create a sensor that is not only super-sensitive to the presence of chemical compounds but responds quickly. It has countless potential uses for detecting drugs, toxins and pesticides for biomedical or environmental analysis.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-Biosensor-Finds-Traces-of-Contaminants-in-Liquids-053012.aspx

Biosensor Warns of Toxicity in Real Time

From man-made toxic chemicals such as industrial by-products to poisons that occur naturally, a water or food supply can be easily contaminated. And for every level of toxic material ingested, there is some level of bodily response, ranging from minor illness to painful certain death.

Biosensors have long been used to safeguard against exposure to toxic chemicals. Food tasters employed by the ancients acted as early versions of biosensors, determining if a meal had been poisoned. More modern examples include the use of fish, which may alter their swimming characteristics if a toxic material is introduced into to the water. But although current warning systems are more sophisticated, they require equipment and time that a soldier in the field or an adventurer in the wilderness do not have.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-Biosensor-Warns-of-Toxicity-in-Real-Time-051512.aspx

Sensitive Biosensor Key to Instant Diagnostic Devices

A new quantum mechanical-based biosensor designed by a team at Univ. of California, Santa Barbara offers tremendous potential for detecting biomolecules at ultra-low concentrations, from instant point-of-care disease diagnostics, to detection of trace substances for forensics and security.

Kaustav Banerjee, director of the Nanoelectronics Research Lab and professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UCSB, and PhD student Deblina Sarkar have proposed a methodology for beating the fundamental limits of a conventional Field-Effect-Transistor (FET) by designing a Tunnel-FET (T-FET) sensor that is faster and four orders of magnitude more sensitive. The details of their study appeared in the journal Applied Physics Letters.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-Ultra-Sensitive-Biosensor-is-Key-Instant-Diagnostic-Devices-041812.aspx

Diatom Biosensor Can Find Chemicals in Water

A glow coming from the glassy shell of microscopic marine algae called diatoms could someday help detect chemicals and other substances in water samples. And the fact that this diatom can glow in response to an external substance could also help researchers develop a variety of new, diatom-inspired nanomaterials that could solve problems in sensing, catalysis and environmental remediation.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-Diatom-Biosensor-Could-Find-Chemicals-in-Water-032312.aspx