Graphene-using Diagonosis
A South Korean research team has developed a high sensitive biosensor manufacturing technology that can diagnose various diseases by realizing a large panel of 4-inch wafer board with graphene, which is called the "dream material.”
The bio-microsystem research team led by Dr. Hwang Kyo-sun at the Brain Science Institute of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) announced on August 10 that it has succeeded in producing a grapheme-based biosensor which elaborately realizes the pattern of dozens of micrometer (one-millionths of a meter) by using a semiconductor process technology.
The new sensor can diagnose whether a patient has certain diseases by measuring the level of a specific protein from a drop of blood through a blood test. The high-sensitive sensor can detect the minute amount (pictogram or one-trillionth of a gram) of protein biomarkers in blood quickly and accurately, allowing patients to check whether they have diseases through their body fluids.
The grapheme-based biosensor can check the blood concentration of beta amyloid, which is known as a protein that causes dementia, utilizing a blood test for early age-related dementia (Alzheimer's disease) diagnosis. With the sensor, the research team confirmed the diagnostic capability for dementia through the blood samples of transgenic mice and normal mice models. Currently, it has also secured data for clinical studies of healthy volunteers and patient volunteers.
The research team led by Dr. Hwang Kyo-sun, which developed and transferred the technology utilizing a blood test for early dementia diagnosis to a company earlier this year, is putting more effort into the follow-up studies in order to assess the early diagnostic capability for numerous diseases, such as cancer, diabetes and depression as well as dementia, and commercialize the technology.
Dr. Hwang said, “The result of the latest study has brought us one step closer to the commercialization of the high sensitive sensor that can diagnose various diseases through the easy way of blood tests, and it is meaningful in that we have laid out the technical foundation to realize the large panel. In a bid to check the applicability to numerous diseases, we will work together with research organizations at home and abroad to carry out clinical studies.”
The result of the study was released in the online version of Scientific Reports, an internationally renowned scientific journal, on August 10.