MIET develops a new gadget for biomedical diagnostics and environmental monitoring
The scientific group of the Institute of Advanced Materials and Technologies (AMT), led by senior researcher Anna Bondarenko, is currently developing a self-cleaning plasmonic nanostructured SERS-active platform for the analysis of biological fluids containing molecules in submolar concentrations.” The research is carried out jointly with the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics (BSUIR).
The sensor platform will be needed for the analysis of various liquids, for example, physiological solutions or wastewater, in order to detect disease biomarkers, toxic substances, etc. The development will allow to detect target chemical compounds in extremely low concentrations up to single molecules within a few minutes, which is practically impossible in the case of currently available molecular analysis techniques.
“Our colleagues from the Belarusian University develop nanostructured substrates based on metallized porous silicon, which demonstrate activity in surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), that is, a blank for a future sensor platform, and we modify them by depositing thin dielectric layers and plasmonic nanoparticles,” says Sergei Dubkov, senior lecturer at the Institute of AMT.
In the world SERS-active substrates are not an innovation, but the disadvantage of all existing analogues is their high cost and low efficiency. The vast majority of substrates of this type cannot be used several times, and the cost of one reaches 2,000–10,000 rubles. A remarkable advantage of the sensor platform proposed by our scientists is the possibility of its self-cleaning: it will be enough to place the SERS-active substrate for a couple of minutes under the ultraviolet lamp, and it will be ready for a new analysis.
According to the modern researches, SERS-active substrates will be introduced into clinical practice within 5–7 years. Nowadays we have already known about the the possibilities of using such nanostructures for the analysis of organic and bioorganic objects that are important for solving the problems of medical diagnostics and therapy, sanitary and epidemiological control, and etc.
For example, physicians can use SERS spectroscopy as an additional method of analysis, which makes it possible to identify a dangerous disease or emerging tissue defects in a patient at an early stage. In particular, it is known that when a person overeats animal products, the level of a substance such as trimethylamine oxide (TMAO) increases in his blood, which can cause atherosclerosis. The new development will allow to find TMAO molecules in critical concentrations and personalize therapy by controlling the content of this marker in the blood.
The project leader, senior researcher at the Institute of AMT Anna Bondarenko: “SERS-active substrates will also be useful to monitor the sanitary and epidemiological state of the environment, including the composition of tap and waste water. One interesting example is the need to control the content of lisinopril molecules in the water we drink every day. This drug is very often used to reduce pressure in many people. It is excreted from the body in an unchanged state, getting into the sewer, the water from which, after many stages of purification, we drink. Lisinopril molecules are practically impossible to destroy and, therefore, completely deactivate. In this regard, its trace amounts are also found in drinking water. The negative side of this medicine is that its regular use, even in small concentrations, leads to serious changes in the endocrine profile. Therefore, it is extremely important to be able to quickly detect lisinopril, which is opened up by the use of SERS-active substrates.”