Au Alumnus’ Biosensor To Detect Covid Using Sweat Sample | Allahabad News

Prayagraj: A former student of Allahabad University (AU) has come out with a biosensor that can detect Covid-19 infection using sweat sample.
Amit Dubey, who is currently a senior scientist at Quanta Calculus, Greater Noida, has claimed to have developed the world’s first specific, reliable ultra-small gold nanoclusters for biomedical and biosensing applications to detect the presence of Covid-19.
Detailing about the study, findings of which have been published in “Luminescence: The Journal of Biological and Chemical Luminescence,” a peer-reviewed journal published by Wiley, Dubey said the biosensors would be a one-step identification or sensing technique. In instances where traditional lab techniques are not readily available, biosensors have already shown that they can deliver affordable and accessible diagnoses. Ultra-small gold nanoclusters, with diameters less than 2 nm, are attracting increasing attention due to their unique size-dependent physicochemical properties, which include strong luminescence and excellent biocompatibility.
“The main component of the biosensor is ultra-small gold nanoclusters, as gold is unreactive. It means that when it comes in to contact with a substance the team wishes to measure — for example, a potential disease biomarker present in sweat — it does not chemically alter that substance. But instead, as the ultra-small gold nanoclusters are so fine, they can provide a large surface for that biomarker to bind to, and this is where the other components of the sensor come in,” said Dubey, who did his PhD from department of Bioinformatics, AU in 2016.
As a low-power laser is pointed at the ultra-small gold nanoclusters, some of the laser light is absorbed and some is reflected. Of the light reflected, most have the same energy as the incoming light. However, some incoming light loses energy to the biomarker or other measurable substance, and the discrepancy in energy is unique to the substance in question. A sensor called a spectrometer can use this unique energy fingerprint to identify the substance. This method is known as Raman spectroscopy.
“Currently, our ultra-small gold nanocluster-based biosensors need to be finely tuned to detect specific substances, and we wish to push both the sensitivity and specificity even further,” said Dubey. “With this, we think applications like cancer target site monitoring, ideal for cancer drug delivery, or even virus detection might be possible,” he said.
“There is also potential for the ultra-small gold nanocluster biosensor to work with other methods of chemical analysis besides Raman spectroscopy, such as electrochemical analysis, but all these ideas require a lot more investigation,” said Dubey.
He added that “I hope this research can lead to a new generation of low-cost biosensors that can revolutionise health monitoring and reduce the financial burden of health care.”


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