Abstract

Disposable Instruments for Biodetection

Anthony Turner, Professor, Linkoping University

Electrochemical biosensors have achieved multi-billion US dollar sales and the need for new, easy-to-use, home and decentralised diagnostics is now greater than ever. New thinking is crucial to finding the next generation of products that can interface effectively with rapidly evolving telecommunication systems, while meeting the emerging needs of both individuals and economies. Electroanalysis remains one of the most powerful and simple techniques for detection of events down to a single molecule level1, while lending itself admirably to miniaturisation. This presentation will focus on the evolution of inexpensive, fully-printed sensing instruments, where we have not only screen-printed sensors, but also circuits, displays and batteries, to create paper or plastic use-and-throw instruments. Since we first reported this unique instrument design for electrochemical measurements at the end of last year2, we have developed new designs for affinity sensors3 and for paper instruments, or packaging, which can communicate with mobile phones, area networks etc4. We are working on applying these concepts to a wide range of sensing applications including for multi-parameter metabolite monitoring and the detection of microbial pathogens, drugs and toxins.