Major increase in nanobiosensors predicted by ECS graduate

Nanobiosensors, which will make point-of-care testing in GPs' surgeries a reality, have the potential to account for 50 per cent of the biosensor market by 2020, according to an student who graduated on Friday 17 July.

As part of his final year project, Stanko Nedic, who graduated with First Class Honours in the MEng in Electronic Engineering at the School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) conducted a review of mainstream biosensors and compared them with high performance biosensors based on materials such as nanowires and nanotubes.

He found that modern biosensors used for medical testing are inappropriate for point-of-care diagnostics due to several limitations associated with them and that these constraints can be addressed by the use of highly-portable, cost-effective and high-performance nanobiosensors which can readily detect glucose and many other biomolecules simultaneously and with ultra-high sensitivity.

'The demand for nanobiosensors is rising fast in response to the increase in obesity and diabetes,' said Stanko. 'However, several roadblocks for commercialisation of nanobiosensors have been identified, most important of which is the need for low cost mass production schemes.'

Stanko's supervisor, Professor Peter Ashburn, Head of the Nano Research Group at ECS has just been awarded £1.33 million from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to develop a unique method for fabricating nanowires, so that blood-testing kits can be mass-produced.

The new Southampton Nanofabrication Centre, which provides one of Europe's leading multidisciplinary and state-of-the-art clean room complexes, will make cost-effective mass production of such kits a reality.

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.+44(0)23 8059 5453.