Who put the sugar in Sydney Harbor? [biosensors]

Summary form only given. Electronics and biology are being blended in many centers around the world to create new devices that interface with the real world (i.e. touch, smell and taste as well as sight and hearing). This talk will summarize the ongoing research work of AMBRI, the Australian Membrane and Biotechnology Research Institute to design and build unique, high sensitivity, biosensor technology utilizing ion channels as switches in a biological membrane. The basic cell delivers an acutely sensitive capsule, which measures biological concentrations of analytes electronically rather than photometrically. Quantities at sub-picomolar levels of concentration can be detected (i.e. a teaspoon of sugar in Sydney Harbor). The cell is a 'diagnostic laboratory', delivering the functionality of an expensive central laboratory to the field. To date, the cells have been built in isolation and connected to laboratory grade instrumentation. Macquarie University has designed a 96 element sensor chip that directly interfaces to an array of biosensors. The chip uses eight multiplexed sigma-delta converters to provide eight digital outputs that can digitize signals in the range of 1 to 1000 Hz at 12 bit resolution. This chip will enable an exciting new range of very small portable biological detectors to be fielded that can fill a myriad of applications. This talk summarizes the biosensor technology (from a non-expert point of view) and also describes the sensor chip that has been designed.