Verification of successful functionalisation of low cost test strips with biological molecules

为了开发下一代传感器，允许实现低成本和易于使用的诊断产品，有必要非常详细地了解传感器条的表面特性。这是因为为了检测样品中的目标，需要将生物分子附着到传感器表面。例如，酶、抗体和DNA分子可以附着到传感器条上，以检测来自临床样品的生物标志物。目前，在薄膜金和碳测试条上的生物传感器的发展受到我们成功地将生物分子附着到表面的能力的阻碍。此外，委员会认为，确保表面清洁并准备好接受生物分子是支撑这项研究工作的第二个挑战。该项目将侧重于通过测量其粗糙度和成分来发展对低成本传感器表面的基本理解，然后研究清洁表面的方法，这些方法与大批量生产兼容，最后研究将生物分子附着到传感器表面。在项目结束时，该公司将在传感器清洁和生物分子附着领域获得大量知识，这些知识可以应用于其打算创建的新诊断产品。

To develop next generation sensors which allow low cost and easy to use diagnostic products to be realised, it is necessary to understand the surface properties of the sensor strips in high detail. This is because it is necessary to attach biological molecules to the sensor surface in order to detect a target in a sample. For example, enzymes, antibodies and DNA molecules can be attached to the sensor strip in order to detect biomarkers from a clinical samples.At present, the development of biosensors on thin film gold and carbon test strips is hindered by our ability to successfully attach biological molecules to the surface. Furthermore, ensuring the surface is clean and ready to accept the biological molecules is a second challenge which underpins this research effort.This project will focus on developing the fundamental understanding of the low cost sensor surfaces through measuring their roughness and composition and then investigating methods to clean the surfaces which are compatible with high volume manufacturing and finally examine chemical methods for attaching biological molecules to the sensor surface. At the end off the project, the company will have gained a lot of knowledge in the areas of sensor cleaning and biomolecule attachment which it can apply to the new diagnostic products which it intends to create.