We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress hp
Sign In
Advertise with Us
LGC Clinical Diagnostics

Download Mobile App




Sensors Developed to Detect Disease Markers in Breath

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 30 May 2017
Print article
Image: Sensors made from porous thin films of organic conductive plastics can be used in portable, disposable devices for medical monitoring (Photo courtesy of L. Brian Stauffer, MA).
Image: Sensors made from porous thin films of organic conductive plastics can be used in portable, disposable devices for medical monitoring (Photo courtesy of L. Brian Stauffer, MA).
A small, thin square of an organic plastic that can detect disease markers in breath or toxins in a building's air could soon be the basis of portable, disposable sensor devices. A device that monitors ammonia in breath, a sign of kidney failure, has been demonstrated.

Different groups of scientists have tried using organic semiconductors for gas sensing, but the materials were not sensitive enough to detect trace levels of disease markers in breath. One group has realized that the reactive sites were not on the surface of the plastic film, but buried inside it.

Bioengineers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign focused on ammonia as a marker for kidney failure. Monitoring the change in ammonia concentration could give a patient an early warning sign to call their doctor for a kidney function test. The material they chose is highly reactive to ammonia but not to other compounds in breath, but by changing the composition of the sensor, they could create devices that are tuned to other compounds. For example, the scientists have created an ultrasensitive environmental monitor for formaldehyde, a common indoor pollutant in new or refurbished buildings.

By introducing tunable nanopores (50–700 nm) to organic semiconductor thin films enhances their reactivity with volatile organic compounds by up to an order of magnitude, while the surface-area-to-volume ratio is almost unchanged. Mechanistic investigations show that nanopores grant direct access to the highly reactive sites otherwise buried in the conductive channel of the transistor. The high reactivity of nanoporous organic field-effect transistors leads to unprecedented ultrasensitive ultrafast, selective chemical sensing below the 1 ppb level on a hundred millisecond time scale, enabling a wide range of health applications.

Ying Diao, PhD, an assistant professor and lead investigator said, “We would like to be able to detect multiple compounds at once, like a chemical fingerprint. It's useful because in disease conditions, multiple markers will usually change concentration at once. By mapping out the chemical fingerprints and how they change, we can more accurately point to signs of potential health issues.” The study was published on May 2, 2017, in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.

Gold Member
Troponin T QC
Troponin T Quality Control
Verification Panels for Assay Development & QC
Seroconversion Panels
New
Myeloperoxidase Assay
IDK MPO ELISA
New
Centromere B Assay
Centromere B Test

Print article

Channels

Molecular Diagnostics

view channel
Image: Researcher Kanta Horie places a sample in a mass spectrometer that measures protein levels in blood plasma and other fluids (Photo courtesy of WashU Medicine)

Highly Accurate Blood Test Diagnoses Alzheimer’s and Measures Dementia Progression

Several blood tests are currently available to assist doctors in diagnosing Alzheimer's disease in individuals experiencing cognitive symptoms. However, these tests do not provide insights into the clinical... Read more

Immunology

view channel
Image: The findings were based on patients from the ADAURA clinical trial of the targeted therapy osimertinib for patients with NSCLC with EGFR-activated mutations (Photo courtesy of YSM Multimedia Team)

Post-Treatment Blood Test Could Inform Future Cancer Therapy Decisions

In the ongoing advancement of personalized medicine, a new study has provided evidence supporting the use of a tool that detects cancer-derived molecules in the blood of lung cancer patients years after... Read more

Microbiology

view channel
Image: Schematic representation illustrating the key findings of the study (Photo courtesy of UNIST)

Breakthrough Diagnostic Technology Identifies Bacterial Infections with Almost 100% Accuracy within Three Hours

Rapid and precise identification of pathogenic microbes in patient samples is essential for the effective treatment of acute infectious diseases, such as sepsis. The fluorescence in situ hybridization... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2025 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.