Medicine

Detecting early-stage diseases with the naked eye

October 30, 2012

Simple test developed by Professor Stevens and her colleague (credit: Roberto de la Rica and Molly M. Stevens/Imperial College of London)

Imperial College London scientists have developed a prototype ultra-sensitive sensor that would enable doctors to detect the early stages of diseases and viruses with the naked eye.

The visual sensor technology is ten times more sensitive than the current gold-standard methods for measuring biomarkers. These indicate the onset of diseases such as prostate cancer and infection by viruses including HIV.

The researchers say their sensor would benefit countries where sophisticated detection equipment is scarce, enabling cheaper and simpler detection and treatments for patients.

In the study, the team tested the effectiveness of the sensor by detecting a biomarker called p24 in blood samples, which indicates HIV infection./.../